A Promise
by onceuponafanfiction1
Summary: OUTLAWQUEEN AU. Rated T (maybe M in some chapters) As little kids, Robin makes a promise to Regina saying he will take her on a date when they "grow up". Robin moves away, however, he never forget his promise. One day when they are both "grown up", someone approaches Regina with a bouquet of roses, and she doesn't recognize them at first. It's Robin, he kept his promise.
1. Way Back When

**A/N: Okay, new story for you all. This prompt has been in the back of my mind ready to be written for months now, and I'm so happy I actually got time to write it. If you feel like following me on my ouat instagrams, they are (swanofacaptain) and (lanathequeennn).**

 **Hopefully you all enjoy this story as much as I do writing it.**

 **Reviews are appreciated and loved, and will be answered daily.**

* * *

One.

Regina heard the alarm clock, and finally decided to get up to get ready for work. She knew that she couldn't be late again, her boss, Mr. Gold, wouldn't allow it. He knew she had a troubled life, but her tardiness has become a more constant thing, and she couldn't keep letting him down.

It was though, the one day of the year where her tardiness should be accepted, her birthday. But with her low amount of friends, and her family issues, her birthday wasn't a big thing anymore. Sure, she was turning 21, the age of more freedom, but that didn't mean anything if she didn't have anyone to spend it with.

She lazily pulled herself out of bed, and trudged to the pure-white bathroom across the hall. She showered, and came out into the kitchen to make a quick lunch before she got dressed. After throwing a nice turkey sandwich and bag of chips in her lunchbox, she walked into her bedroom, straight to the closet. She wanted to wear something spontaneous, but cute, and sexy, but conservative. She pulled out a bright red, skintight dress that came down to about the middle of her thighs. It was strapless and had a sweetheart neckline. She also grabbed black heels, and hurriedly got dressed. She threw her heels into the kitchen, where they landed in front of her lunch box, that sat on the counter.

After curling her hair, she grabbed her jacket and her lunchbox, put her shoes on, and fled out the door of her apartment. The office was only a few minutes from her apartment building, so she stopped at the corner coffee shop before work. She ordered her usual, a medium French Vanilla coffee with a buttered roll, and headed for the door. To her surprise, she bumped into a man, around 5'9", with dark blonde hair that was gelled back to create some sort of spike, and piercing blue eyes. He was carrying a full bouquet of roses in one hand and a coffee in the other.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" Regina ran to get napkins after realizing that she had spilled her coffee on the handsome stranger.

"Oh, it's not problem. Really, it isn't." the stranger said.

Regina stood in front of him, dabbing his what used to be white shirt, and gave an embarrassed laugh.

"9:25! I can't be late! Gold won't be happy!" Regina murmured as she looked at her wristwatch. The stranger stood and stared at her. He was captured by her beauty and her clumsiness made her even cuter. Regina slipped past him and started walking towards the office, faster than she had ever moved. To her surprise, the same man came quickly behind her and placed his hand on her shoulder.

"Regina?" the man asked. Regina spun around and leaned her head in confusion, trying to figure out who this man was.

"Yes, that's me, but I really have to go for work, so sorry."

"Regina it's me." he said.

"I'm sorry I don't have time for this." she said, spinning on her heel, "I'm late."

"You know me, Robin Locksley." he said, running in front of her and opening his arms.

Suddenly, memories flew back.

* * *

" _Regina! Stop reading for once and come watch a movie with me!" Robin yelled across his living room. His mother had just gotten home and was preparing dinner for the three of them._

" _Robin, leave the poor girl alone." his mother said._

" _I just want to spend time with my girlfriend who I love." Robin said, pouting like a four year old. Regina's eyes shot up from the pages of the book and she gave him a little smirk._

" _Love?"_

 _He nodded._

 _Regina laughed, "We are 13, Robin. You don't know what love is."_

" _And do you?" he said, standing up and sitting next to her._

" _According to Shakespeare, love looks not with the eyes, and therefore is winged Cupid blind." Regina said._

" _What is that supposed to mean?" Robin asked._

" _It means that love does not come easy, and it's not something you can clearly see, it's something you feel."_

" _What if I feel love for you?"_

 _She gave him a look before rolling her eyes and continued to read her book. He nudged her a little bit and scooched over to the other side of the couch._

" _Dinner's ready!" Robin's mother yelled._

 _After quite some good food and time, Regina had to go._

 _She put her coat on and grabbed her backpack from the floor, waving to Robin's father and hugging his mother. Robin came to say goodbye. He wrapped his arms around her body and held her tight whispering, "Someday, when we grow up, we'll go out and you'll see how much I do love you."_

 _He pulled away, watching as her eyes filled with warmth and her cheeks turned a light pink._

" _We'll just have to see, won't we?" Regina said, before turning on her heels and going home._

* * *

Regina couldn't believe it. It was actually him. Another memory came.

* * *

" _Let's make a bet then," he shrugged, "You lose, I get anything I want, you win, you get anything you want."_

 _She thought about it for a second and then nodded, "Okay, deal, keep it PG."_

" _No promises, we are now 16." he laughed._

 _Their game of scrabble had begun. Robin created the longest, most scientific words he could come up with, while Regina was at it with Shakespeare. They stayed neck and neck throughout the entire game except for the last few minutes._

" _That's not fair, I don't have any letters!"_

" _You can make a word," he moved her letters, "See? C-A-T, cat."_

" _But you just put down zoologist." she pouted._

" _Guess I win." he smirked. She let out a sigh and rubbed her hands, before they cleaned up the game._

" _Okay, winner, what do you want?"_

 _He smirked before laying a finger on his upper lip. She rolled her eyes and gave him a quick peck, quickly pulling away. They stared at each other before she leaned in once more, kissing him longer this time._

* * *

"Robin?" Regina asked, her eyes growing watery.

"Didn't I tell you that I was going to come back?" he laughed.

Another memory flashed into her mind.

* * *

" _Do you seriously have to go?" she sniffled into his shoulder, "Why can't you stay with me?"_

" _I know, it's hard, but my father has to go work, and hopefully we will see each other soon." Robin said, rubbing her back._

" _I don't want you to go, I'll miss you too much." she said._

 _He pulled away from her and held her hand, looking down to the floor and trying not to look into her eyes._

" _Okay, you have to go." she wiped the tears off her cheeks and let go of his hands, turning away from him._

" _I'll be back, I promise. I will think of you everyday while I'm in England." he said before kissing her gently on her lips._

 _They leaned their foreheads together and she said a faint, "Goodbye." as he let her go and go onto the plane._

* * *

"Your exact words were 'someday when we grow up'." She laughed and ran into his embrace.

"I missed you so much." he said, dropping his arm to his side and wrapping the other around her body. She was still as beautiful as ever, and he was now holding her in his arms. She pulled away from his embrace and he immediately kissed her.

Her first instinct was to kiss him back, but she then pulled way, "Robin, I can't."

"What do you mean, you can't?" he said.

"I have a, I am not available right now." she hesitantly said.

"You're with someone-"

"I'm with Graham Humbert."

"The stupid jock from high school?" Robin said, "I thought you hated him."

"I _did,_ but now he is a successful businessman and he loves me."

"I thought you didn't know what love meant."

"That was back when we were 13, Robin." she let a tear fall from her eye and sniffled a little. Suddenly, Graham ran up to her and hugged her tightly.

"I was worried you were sick or something." Graham said into her hair.

"Graham, long time no see." Robin said.

"Robin. How great to see you again, I'm sure you guys had enough time to catch up, Regina, you have to get to work." Graham said. Regina nodded and kissed him on the cheek.

"Right, bye sweetie." she said to Graham before walking over to Robin, "I'm sorry, Robin."

Robin's mouth dropped and he watched her as she walked away, to her office building, unaware that he actually, and truly loved her.


	2. My Dear Friend

**A/N: Here is chapter 2! I am so glad that I got so many amazing responses from the first chapter. You all seemed so happy to read this.**

 **If you have any suggestions or comments, please don't be scared to message me or leave a review! I love hearing all of your amazing opinions and look forward to reading new ones every day :)**

* * *

Two - My Dear Friend

She finally arrived at the office and was greeted by Emma, her secretary, also known as Killian's secret lover that no one is supposed to know about, and her best friend. Emma stared at her, fuming, trying to get Regina in on time by helping her with her bags and coat. Regina rushed in and greeted her coworker, Killian, nicely and ran to her office room. Emma was still back way behind with all of her stuff, talking to Killian.

Eventually hours had gone by, and work had ended. Regina went outside to get into her car, but she was interrupted by Killian and Emma. They each grabbed one of her arms, and dragged her into the parking garage, up some stairs, took some turns, and finally stopped before the lunch room doors. They both opened one and Regina stood, stunned, at all of her co-workers that threw her a surprise party.

"Surprise!"

"We wanted to do something special, for our 24 year old friend!" Emma said, all giggly.

Regina's favorite song came in as she ran into the party, and started to dance. She suddenly forgot about Robin. She danced with Graham a couple of times, snuck in a few kisses, opened some gifts, and had some drinks, since it was finally legal for her to do so. Around 11, she decided to go home. She insisted that she would be fine driving herself home, since she hadn't had her drinks since 9. Killian and Emma were worried, but they had to let her go. Regina got into her car, all shaky and dizzy from her "few" drinks she had earlier. She buckled up and started out for her apartment building. After a few minutes of driving, she decided that it probably wasn't safe to be driving this late, and not completely sober, so she stopped at the corner coffee shop.

She ordered her usual again, for the second time today, hoping that she wouldn't spill it on yet another hot stranger. She payed, and sat down in a corner booth. She silently drank her French Vanilla coffee and pulled out her phone to check the time. Her phone read 12:00. A shadow suddenly appeared in front of her and she almost fell out of her seat. She was so out of it.

"Regina, can I talk to you for a second?"

"Robin, I'm half out of it, so I'm not responsible for anything I say." she said.

He laughed, "First of all, happy brithday."

"How did you remember?" she asked.

"It was exactly one week before I left for England."

Suddenly the air went sad.

"Look, Robin, I didn't actually expect you to keep your promise."

"It was foolish of me to think you would." Robin shrugged.

"Now don't be like that. We both know what we had, I just assumed that you wouldn't come back from England." she said.

"Can I tell you the truth?"

She nodded.

"I saved all my money that I made working with my father to come and see you." he said, "And everyday I would tell myself tomorrow is the day I can fly back and see her."

"Robin, I-"

"And then, tomorrow turned into next week and then next week turned into next year. Time just kept going, the company slowed down, it actually crashed. My father and I became unemployed, he wasn't able to support our family."

"I'm so sorry."

"He left us, my mother and I moved back to America where she got a day job as a kindergarten teacher and a night job as a personal secretary." he said, "At that time, it was about three years ago actually, I was working myself as a busboy at a restaurant and helped her. Now we are living steadily."

"Why didn't you ever come to me?" she said.

"I wanted you to be happy with someone who had been successful and who could take care of you. At that time, that wasn't me." he said.

They sat insilence for a few moments, letting the air cool of the heat that was just placed.

"We can try to work this out. Why don't we just start as being friends?" Regina suggested.

"Okay, we can do that."

They talked for hours, it seemed like, getting to know each other. It was 2AM when she finally said she had to go home, if she was going to be able to go to work the next day.

"Can I get your number?" Robin said as he stood up out of the booth. Regina handed him a napkin with her number written on it.

Regin waved goodbye, smiling as she walked out of the coffee shop. He raised an eyebrow.

* * *

" _I just know that he'll love it. He loves surprises." Regina said, as she placed the last balloon in his bedroom._

" _He will love it, my dear." Robin's mother said._

" _Mrs. Locksley, do you think me and Robin will be together forever?" regina asked, sitting next to her on the couch._

" _I hope you will be for more than forever, Regina." his mother said._

 _Robin walked into the front door and dropped his backpack, giving his mother and Regina a confused look._

" _Am I on one of those prank shows where you two will act insane in about five seconds?" robin asked._

 _Regina stood and laughed, walking over to him and hugging him, 'Nope, but we do have a little surprise for you."_

" _And what might that be?" he asked, raising an eyebrow._

 _She pulled his hand and brought him through the hallways and to his room. She flicked the lights on and revealed his all done room._

" _Will you let me be the thief and steal you at prom?" he read the giant sign out loud._

" _You know, if this wasn't a Sadies dance, then I would probably have used that exact phrase to ask you." He laughed before hugging her._

" _Is that a yes?" she asked._

 _He kissed her quickly, "Does that answer your question?"_

" _I'm not sure I understand the answer." she giggled._

 _He kissed her once more, but longer and more passionately._

" _I guess that's a yes."_

" _Regina, honey, what did he say?" his mother yelled through the hallway._

" _He said yes!"_

* * *

The next morning was very rough for Regina. She got up late and was rushing around the house. When she finally finished getting ready, she hurried to the office.

"I don't recall allowing you to be twenty minutes late, Miss Mills." Mr. Gold said.

"I'm sorry, Gold, I- just, I didn't-"

"She was helping me find my client's information at the record's office downtown." Graham said.

Gold gave the two a suspicious look and went on with his day.

"Thank you." she sighed as she spun around and kissed him sweetly.

"Why were you actually late?" Graham asked.

She was actually going to tell him that she had been talking to Robin when she left the party all the way until two in the morning. And she definitely could tell him the things she was remembering ever so often.

"My alarm clock," she quickly made up, "It wasn't working."

She waved goodbye to him before hurriedly rushing to her office room and locking the door behind her. On her desk sat a beautiful bouquet of purple tulips, her favorite flowers.

Instantly, like rang on point, another memory flashed into her mind.

* * *

" _Just today, okay?" Robin said, "For me?"_

" _Fine, let's go." she sighed, "But next time, I better be the one picking out flowers for my wedding."_

 _He laughed as he helped her into the car._

" _Regina, dear, I'm really sorry if Robin is making you come, you can go home if you want," his mother said, "I just thought you would like to do something like this."_

" _It's no problem really, Mrs. Locksley." Regina replied, "You're sister is lucky to have a nephew with a girlfriend who loves this type of stuff."_

" _Yeah, she is. She is so overwhelmed with the wedding, so I just thought I would take a load off of her and help her out." his mother said._

" _Fortunately, for me, that means I have to go flower shopping with my two favorite woman." Robin smirked._

" _Come on, kids, we're here." his mom said._

 _The three got out of the car and entered the florist shop._

" _Woah, there's like every type of flower in here." Robin said, amazed._

" _It is a flower shop, sweetie." his mother replied._

 _While his mother was looking at the flowers for her sister's bouquet, Robin and Regina were sent to pick flowers for the centerpieces at the tables._

" _How about daffodils?" Robin suggested, "They smell nice."_

" _Nah." Regina shrugged._

" _What about sunflowers?" Robin asked._

" _I don't think your aunt wants bees at the tables." she laughed._

" _Then what flower is good enough for you, your majesty?" Robin said._

" _Why, citizen, only flowers that I have in mind are tulips."_

" _Why do you like tulips so much? You talk about them like everyday." Robin laughed._

" _They are just beautiful." she replied as she picked up a purple one and swirled it in her fingers._

 _Robin's eyes watched the flower in Regina's hand and then moved up to her eyes, which were sparkling from the sun shining through the glass perimeter._

" _What?" Regina asked, placing the flower down._

" _Oh, nothing." Robin cleared his throat._

" _Tell me, Robin! Best friends don't keep secrets!" Regina said._

" _That's something we said when we were like 9, that was five years ago." Robin smirked and walked away._

" _Whatever, let's get these for your aunt."_

" _Why?"_

" _They are my favorite and she'll love them." Regina said._

" _If you like 'em, I like 'em." Robin grabbed one and brought it over to his mom, presenting the two's idea._

* * *

"Purple tulips, my favorite." Regina said as she grasped them and inhaled their beautiful scent. Attached to them was a little note that read:

 **For my dear friend - Regina.**

She shook her head and couldn't bare but let a small smile escape. Quickly grabbing a vase, she placed it on her desk and let the flowers move freely inside of it.


	3. Jealousy Is A Terrible Thing

**A/N: Here is chapter three, and wow am I proud of this chapter. It's super long and stuff and it's got some great content.**

 **Always looking forward to reading your comments on this chapter, so leave me some!**

 **Enjoy it!**

* * *

Three - Jealousy Is A Terrible Thing

A few hours had gone by and Regina could not stop thinking about Robin. To think that he would go through as much trouble as to get her favorite flowers and to think that he would remember that sort of stuff was blowing her mind. She was probably his world. And he was hers - at one time or another.

The door swung open and relieved a pissed off Graham.

"I can't believe him. It's happening again, why is it always me?" Graham said, shutting the door behind him. Regina shook her head to rid her of Robin and looked up to her angry boyfriend.

"What's happened this time?"

"He's making me go out of state for a week, again," Graham replied, "And it's not just to New York this time, it's to Florida."

"What? Why?" Regina stood up and walked over to him.

"Some client has something wrong there and he chose me yet again." Graham sighed.

"At least you're getting paid more money to do so, but I'll miss you." Regina said, leaning into his shoulder.

"Yeah me too, who are those flowers from?"

Her head shot towards the purple tulips on her desk and she went silent, trying to think of an excuse that wouldn't make him seem suspicious.

"Emma gave them to me," she swallowed hard, "for my birthday."

Graham nodded and hugged her tightly before speaking, "I'll see you later tonight, around 8 okay?"

"Tonight? For what?" she asked.

"Regina, it's the town's annual Halloween festival and drink party afterwards."

"Oh my god, I almost forgot, I need to get a costume." she noticed as he began to walk out of the room and laugh.

How could she forget her abortive holiday ever? It's because Robin was consuming her entire mind and body, and she had to stop it. She quickly clocked out and made her way to the Halloween costume shop across the street.

* * *

"Hello, miss, surely someone like you might be looking for something a little more this way?" the teenage boy said.

"Do you work here," she read his name tag, "Daniel?"

He nodded and pulled her arm towards the more inappropriate costumes.

"My, young boy, I may not seem it but I'm too old for these things." she laughed at him.

"You're like 20, ma'am." he replied.

"I'm actually 24, thank you very much." she said.

"Whatever, just buy something." Daniel said before leaving her alone in the aisle.

She scanned the wall of hanging costumes and saw nothing that caught her eye. She walked down the many, many aisles of witch costumes, vampire costumes, even wolf costumes, but nothing she wanted. She came to a stop at the very last aisle and found something she wanted very badly. She looked for her size and purchased the costume, excited to surprise Graham and everyone else later than night at the festival and drink party.

* * *

As the hours passed, Regina slowly began to get ready. For the costume she had, she needed multiple hours to make sure she looked perfect. She had called over Emma for help.

"Okay, let me do your hair first then." Emma insisted.

"Shouldn't I get dressed first?" Regina asked.

Emma shook her head and yanked Regina down into the chair, beginning her hair, which she was sure would take at least a few hours.

Emma pinned half of Regina's hair up into some sort of bun that had braids around it. The other half of her hair hung under the bun and was curled into long, loose curls, spun to perfection by Emma's curling iron. She pinned a dark, velvet colored feather on the front of the bun, to make everything pop nicely. Before starting her makeup, Emma gave Regina a few minute break to relax, but then started up again.

"Do you want dark and sexy or light and reserved?" Emma asked.

"Whatever you think goes better with the costume." Regina shrugged.

"Dark and sexy it is." Emma said.

She applied dark brown eyeshadow to Regina's corner, soon after adding a golden black base. After this, she applied a light silver sparkle to Regina's lid, soon following with a sharp line of black eyeliner. She coated her face with moisturizer, then foundation. She whipped out her contour kit and made her cheekbones more distinct than they ever have been. Emma then applied a lighter shade of blush and a layer of mascara before layering Regina's lips with a dark red matte lipstick. Emma brought Regina to the bathroom and revealed her masterpiece, only to get a giant hug from Regina.

"Thank you! I look hot." Regina said, hugging her.

"Watch your hair!" Emma yelled. Regina slowly pulled away and began to laugh.

"Now go home and get ready yourself." Regina insisted.

"You sure you're okay with getting dressed without hurting my masterpiece?" Emma laughed.

Regina nodded and watched as her friend made her way out of her house. She walked into her room and stared at her dress before walking over to it and slipping inside of it. It's soft, velvet fabric left her skin nothing but warm as the dress hugged all her curves and all the right places. The jewels that hung from the back of her neck to the bottom of her waist were a sparkling silver. The silky smooth dress was long enough to cover the length of her legs, however there was a slit down the right side from the beginning of her waist to the end of the dress. The front of the dress, however, was a see through, black mesh fabric, that was bejeweled with silver rhinestones and layered with black lace. This part of the dress was more of a V-shape that started from the shoulders all the way to her belly button. The dresses sleeves were long and went all the way to her wrists, tightly wrapping them with a rhinestone edging. On top of the dress, she stepped into black stilettos and started to make her way to her purse, where she found her phone buzzing like crazy.

She picked up the phone and answered the call, "Hello?"

I'm on my way, beautiful.

"Can't wait." she smiled into the phone and hung up, waiting for Graham to show up.

She saw the headlights of his car through her front door and made her way to open it. His mouth dropped.

"Holy, wow, Regina," Graham swallowed hard, scanning her entire body.

She turned around slowly, "So you approve?"

"You look amazing." He said, pulling her into a long, passionate kiss, that made her never want to leave him.

"We should get going, mister." she laughed as the two made their way to his car.

* * *

"I just love these types of things, don't you?" she asked.

"If watching little kids dressed as vampires play tag is your type of thing, I guess." Graham shrugged.

"I hope to have kids someday." she smiled as she watched the little boys in front of her run around.

"That's too much work." Graham said before sipping his drink.

"Why are you so negative all of sudden?" Regina asked, standing up.

"Regina, I didn't mean what you thought I meant." Graham said, standing next to her.

"I just, need some air, just for a few minutes," she said, looking N away from him, "I won't be long."

He watched as she walked away and into the crowd of town members.

"He's always it to be ignorant, why can't he be happy for once?" she said to herself before bumping into someone.

"Excuse me, sorry-" he said, "Regina? Wow."

"We need to stop meeting like this, Robin. I'm always bumping into you." she laughed. He pulled her out of the crowd and began to laugh with her.

"The Evil Queen? You always outdo yourself." he smiled at her.

"Thought, why not? It was so long ago, right?" she laughed as the memory came back.

* * *

 _"What do you wanna be this year?" Regina asked as she looked at the vampire costumes hanging in front of her._

 _"A vampire." Robin replied._

 _She gave him a look, "No, let's do something together."_

 _"Together?" he said._

 _"What about queen and king?" se suggested._

 _"I don't wanna wear a big, fuzzy jacket thing," he laughed, "I wanna be something cool, like a thief."_

 _"Well, that can be arranged. Thieves steal, they sometimes steal from queens, right?" she smiled at him._

 _"Of course they do. Queens are the masters of beauty and riches." he narrowed his eyes at her and winked._

 _"I like the riches part, but beauty, isn't that a little cliche?" she said, her hand on her hip._

 _"Wasn't it the Evil Queen who thought she was the prettiest of them all?" Robin asked, ignoring her comment._

 _Regina nodded, "Yeah, so?"_

 _"Well, why don't you be the Evil Queen since you are the prettiest of them all?" he smirked._

 _"Okay, and you be the prince of thieves, Robin Hood."_

 _"Yeah, I like this." Robin said, grabbing both of their costumes. He brought them up to the register and placed them in front of the employee._

 _"How old are you, young man?" she employee asked._

 _"15." he said._

 _"Wow, you're paying for your girlfriend's costume? What a gentleman," she replied, "We need more young men like you."_

 _Robin cast Regina a look, "Yes, my girlfriend is one lucky girl."_

 _Regina just stood and blushed at him, even though they technically weren't boyfriend and girlfriend, but the compliment made Robin happy._

 _"There ya go." the employee handed Robin the bag of costumes and the two made their way out of the shop._

 _"Girlfriend?" Regina asked._

 _"Why not? We practically are together." Robin shrugged._

 _"I do not accept if that's how you are going to ask." she crossed her arms and looked away._

 _He got down on his knees and grabbed her hand, "My majesty, will you be my girlfriend?"_

 _She couldn't help but smile and hug him so hard, he could barely breathe_.

* * *

"Well, you look stunning." he smirked.

"Thank you," she blushed, "Will you be at the drink party later on?"

He nodded.

"I have to get back to Graham, see you around, Robin."

"See you later, Regina." he replied.

He watched as she walked back into the crowd and back to Graham who seemed relieved to have her back. Somehow, Robin was going to get her back, at any cost, he'd pay it and make her see how much he did love her.

* * *

"Another drink for the beautiful lady?" the bartender said. Regina blushed and nodded.

"Two, actually."

He handed her two drinks and she made her way through the crowd and to Graham.

"Who's the second drink for?" he asked.

"You, dummy." she giggled and handed it to him before taking a sip of hers.

"Don't look now, but Robin at your 5 o'clock." Graham said, sipping his drink. She turned her head and waved at him. He made his way through the crowd.

"I told you not to look." he warned.

"And I told you we were just friend," she smiled at Robin, "nothing to worry about."

"Hello Graham." Robin shook his hand and smiled, "Regina, hello again."

"Again?" Graham whispered into her ear.

"Do you mind if I steal your girlfriend for a dance?" Robin asked, "This was our song back in Highschool."

Regina shrugged and smiled waiting for Graham's approval.

"Whatever, watch your hands, boy." Graham warned. Robin grabbed her hand and pulled her to the dance floor.

"How do you dance in those shoes?" he asked as they began the slow dance.

"Listen, I've had lots of practice." she laughed.

Graham watched the way she looked at him, with love and lust and desire, not in the way she looked at him.

"Don't they ever hurt you?" Robin laughed back.

"Yes, they hurt now." she smiled and laughed into his shoulder.

Robin's hand lied on Regina's lower back and the other hand his fingers interlocked with hers. Graham began to get selfish and jealous.

"You know, you look absolutely stunning?" Robin said, "In every way."

"Thank you, and you do handsome." Regina blushed. She leaned her head into his shoulder as the song ended. One uptempo song came on afterwards and the two began to dance faster, their hands still interlocked. Graham suddenly had a burst of energized jealousy and shoved through the crowd to Robin and Regina, grasping Robin's collar with his hands.

"Graham! Stop, let go!" Regina grabbed Graham's forearm but was pushed off and down to the ground. She quickly got up and stared at Graham.

"Graham, let go of him this instant." she warned.

Graham eyes Robin down and sighed angrily, letting go of his collar and grabbing Regina's wrist, before yanking her through the crowd with him.

"What the hell was that?"

"I don't know what came over me, you ha were dancing and having a good time," Graham said, "I let my emotions get the best of me, I'm sorry."

"You've had too many drinks." she said.

"No, I've had enough to know that guy wants you."

"Robin? How many times have I told you we were just friends?" she said.

"You don't look like friends." he said, pulling her into an empty room and shutting the door behind them.

"Let me out of here, Graham." she demanded.

"No, you'll just go running to him." he said.

"No I won't, I want to go home."

"Prove it," he said, "That you won't go to him."

Regina didn't know what to do. She only had one thing in mind and that was her way out. Something had to be done.

She walked over to him and kissed Graham passionately. His hands landed on her waist, one reaching for her thigh. The kiss deepened before Regina pulled away.

"I'm tired, let me go home, please." she pouted as their foreheads touched.

"I love you, Regina." Graham said, "I only want you for me."

She sighed against him and reached for the doorknob, slowly opening the door and slipping through it, leaving Graham and his 'I love you' in the empty room. She made her way to the front door and outside, immediately walking towards her house as tears flooded her face and ruined her makeup. She let down her hair and threw the pins and feather to the ground. She was shivering as she finally made it home and inside the door, up to her room, soon stripping herself of the dress and getting into her pajamas, going to sleep before another wretched day at the office tomorrow.


	4. Farewell, Honey

**A/N: Hey everyone, this was sort of a good chapter I think. I want to get them even longer than 2.5k words, so I will slowly achieve that goal. This one has 2.6k so I'm getting there!**

 **If you have any ideas of backstory suggestions, let me know. I'm open to anything and everything.**

 **See you tomorrow!**

* * *

Four - Farewell, Honey

Regina woke up out of a dead sleep almost as if her slumber had been a ticking time bomb. She suddenly got the chills, goosebumps formed on her body. She pulled the blanket over her shoulders and lied there for a few more minutes before hearing her alarm clock beep. Regina groaned and hit the alarm clock, before trudging I the bathroom and starting a shower. She stood in the hot water for a while, thinking of the endless problems that would happen today. Soon, she got out and got dressed in her normal work wear and blow dried her hair. She applied light makeup and made a lunch before making her way to her car.

Regina was utterly insane if she thought she wasn't going to get coffee. Of course, this meant that she could possibly run into Robin, but that was something she was willing to risk to get her caffeine. She parked across the street from the coffee shop and ordered her usual, payed for it and say in the corner booth. She scrolled down her Facebook feed and let out a light laugh.

"Good morning, Regina." Robin sat down across from her and sighed.

"Hello Robin." she said without making eye contact.

"I'm sorry if I caused any trouble between you and Graham, I truly wasn't trying anything," he smiled, "I just wanted it to be like old times."

"Robin, I really can't talk about this right now," she sighed, "Graham is leaving tomorrow night for Florida and I have to go make up with him after last night."

"I'm sorry about last night, really," he said, "I didn't mean for anything to happen between you two."

"It wasn't you, I screwed something up." she said, "I told him we were just friends, I told him not to worry, and yet I left him to go dance with you."

"Regina-"

"He grabbed you because he thought you were gonna try something with me and that I was going to allow it," she sighed once more, "And then at the end of the party he told me he loved me and I left him alone and went home."

"I'm sorry, if you need to talk-"

"I know, you're here. I get it," she looked up to him now, "I'm sorry but we need to stay a little more distant until I can figure things out with Graham."

"If that's what you want."

Regina stood up from the booth and walked away without saying goodbye, left the coffee shop and started to drive to the office, where she would hopefully make up with Graham.

* * *

"Come in." she yelled across the room after she heard a knock on her door.

"I think we need to talk."

She held up a finger before shutting her laptop off and giving him her full attention, "Yes, I think we do."

He pulled up a chair and sat down in front of her desk.

"I'm terribly sorry about last night," Graham said, "I don't know what came over me."

She gave him no answer.

"And I know that jealousy is no excuse and that I should have trusted you and just let it go," he said, "but I just forgot all of the important things in my life and made everything worse by letting my temper out."

"Thank you for your apology." she said.

Before continuing, she sighed.

"I think that whatever happened last night should be, uh," she thought, "overlooked and forgotten. It is no longer an issue."

"I agree. I do, however, think that in order for our relationship to stay healthy, we need to keep ourselves exclusive to only each other." he said.

Regina was fuming inside. Did he just accuse her of not stay exclusive? Of going with other men? Of letting Robin try something with her? How could he not trust her enough to not have this conversation?

"By what do you mean, Graham?" she said innocently.

"I mean that it should only be us, that way no one can get jealous." he said.

"If you are trying to say something, just say it."

"I think you should distance yourself from Robin." he said bluntly.

"I am not and definitely will not distance myself from an old friend just so you can 'trust' that I won't sleep with him," she said, straightening herself, "I wish that you would trust me enough to not ask me of such a thing."

"I just want us to be okay," he sighed, "Just you and me."

"Okay, just like before?" she said.

He nodded and stood from his chair, walking over to her and pulling her into his embrace. Something about this whole 'make up' didn't feel right, and Regina knew that. She just hugged him back and went with it.

She continued her work and eventually left around 6PM. She drove home silently, still feeling that awkward feeling she had in the pit of her stomach. Something in her mind telling her to stop worrying about Graham, but she couldn't do that. He has a spot in her heart. She made it home and started dinner for herself. Once she ate, she ran a warm bath to relieve herself of the stress.

It didn't work.

She tossed and turned all night while she tried to sleep. A memory suddenly filled her mind, and her body drifted away.

* * *

 _A doorbell._

 _Emma grabbed Regina's glass of wine from her hand and put it, along with hers, in the sink. Emma put a mint in her mouth and brushed any lint off of her in the process._

 _Another doorbell._

 _Regina walked over to the door, "I hear you!"_

 _She opened the door and stared. Killian stood in front of her with a bouquet of tulips. He had on a black suit with a bright red tie, almost the same shade as Emma's dress. His head was pointed down towards the flowers in his hand._

" _Emma-" Killian said, still staring to the floor._

" _Hold on a sec," Regina smiled, "Emma!"_

 _Emma looked up at Regina and stared in awe. She slowly walked over to the door where Regina was standing and grabbed Robin's hand._

" _Killian, I-" Emma was speechless._

" _Oh my god, Emma, you look absolutely stunning!" Killian blinked a few times to make sure the image was still there in front of him._

" _Well, thank yo-" Emma said._

 _Killian pulled Emma into a very passionate kiss, almost making her fall over. Emma pulled back first, licked her lips, and smiled._

" _These are for you." Killian said, handing the roses to Emma._

" _Thank you, handsome." Emma smiled._

 _Emma grabbed Killian's hand and pulled him inside, into the kitchen. Regina laughed and shook her head. Just as she was about to shut the door, and hand firmly grabbed the handle and kept her from doing so. She turned in surprise. The hand belonged to a man, who was dressed in a dark navy blue suit, that matched her dress quite well. His hair was pulled back to create some sort of spike in the front. She could smell his cologne from where she was standing. She looked up and saw the piercing eyes of Graham Humbert._

 _Graham was staring, scanning, imagining, so many things were going through his mind. There was a woman in front of him, in a dress that showcased every inch of her body, with her hair curled just the way he liked it, with dark red lipstick, that made him want to glue his lips to hers. Her makeup was done so perfectly to correspond the the colors of the dress and her pearly-white teeth added onto the whole image._

 _Regina blushed as she batted her eyelashes. She looked towards the ground before the hand that was on the handle grabbed her waist. His other free hand went to her cheek. He traced her jawline with a finger and smirked._

" _You clean up well." Regina said, staring at him._

" _As do you, love." Graham smiled._

 _Graham kissed her cheek and stared into her eyes._

" _Nice hair." Regina touched his little spike thing slightly._

" _You too." Graham played with one of her curls._

" _Nice suit." Regina ran her fingers down his chest._

" _Nice everything." Graham smirked._

 _Regina kissed him sweetly, but shortly, and turned to Emma and Killian, leaving Graham's hold of her waist. The four went to a restaurant called "A Love Thing". The place had red lights that were dimmed inside to set the feeling for love. They played slow love music inside. The four sat in a booth all the way in the back of the restaurant. Robin sat next to Regina and Killian sat next to Emma. They ordered their food, along with some drinks._

" _So tell me, when did you plan this date thing?" Graham said, putting his arm around Regina._

" _Since we left the coffee shop." Regina turned to him and then back to Emma._

" _That's why you guys were carrying bags and hiding things from us!" Killian said as he gasped._

" _Yes, baby, but not anymore." Emma giggled and snuggled closer to him._

 _The waitress came back with their food and they ate. Their meal was filled with all types of conversations and laughs and making memories._

" _Why don't we go for a walk in the moonlight?" Killian suggested._

" _Sounds good to me." Emma giggled._

" _Yeah, sure." Graham agreed._

" _I'd love to." Regina said._

 _When they finally finished, they paid their check and headed to the park._

 _Regina and Graham continued walking but even more closer than they were before. They stopped by the gazebo that hung over the lake. Graham pulled Regina into the gazebo and pointed to the lake._

" _Huh?" Regina pulled her head up and turned to Graham, looking up into his piercing eyes._

" _Look at the boats and the people." Graham said, shaking his head._

 _Regina turned back to the lake and laid her head on his shoulder again. Graham put his hand in his right pocket. He pulled out a small case. He played with it in his hand for a moment and thought for a second._

" _Regina." Graham said._

 _Regina turned back to Graham and smiled, "Yeah?"_

" _You have made me the happiest man alive. You are extremely beautiful, smart, funny, and just completely perfect in every way." Graham said. Regina blushed and looked down at their hands._

 _Graham put the small box back in his pocket, as he heard footsteps. Killian and Emma had caught up with them, finally. Regina turned hearing the footsteps._

" _Did we, uh, interrupt something?" Killian said, biting his tongue._

" _No, you didn't interrupt anything." Regina said, smiling._

 _Emma grabbed Killian's hand and pulled him toward the balcony part of the gazebo. Killian pulled Emma into a deep kiss._

" _This is everything I've ever wanted; love, friends, and family. Thank you for that Graham." Regina smiled, hugging him._

" _Yeah, sure." Graham hugged her back. He wanted so badly to propose, but he couldn't decide if this was the right thing to do, or the right place, or the right person. He needed to wait._

 _He needed time._

* * *

Regina woke up and decided to stay home from work and clean. She had been dragging herself around the house for the past few hours, thinking about Graham and his leaving. Everything reminded her of the situation she had to go through when she was 18, when Robin left for England. He had promised to come back soon, but he didn't come back until after eight years. She fears that something might happen to Graham, or he might find someone new there. She trusted him, and she cared for him, maybe not as much as she ever could care, but she did care. She cared enough to worry about him.

She reluctantly got ready to meet Graham, because even though it was only for a week, she knew that was too long to be without his presence. He had made an imprint on her life that no one else had, and she wasn't about to lose him. At least, they made up.

She whipped out her phone and texted Robin.

 **Hey, I know this might not be the best timing, but I need to talk.**

 _Anytime, what's up?_

 **Graham is leaving tonight and I just wanted to tell you that everything is okay. I know you were worried about last night and everything, but it is all fixed.**

 _I'm glad to hear that._

 **I think I'm just feeling weird that's all**.

 _By what do you mean?_

 **I mean that me and Graham don't feel right. Sure, we made up, but I don't feel like I used to.**

 _Like are you happy?_

 **Yes, I'm happy. But I don't know, it's just not right.**

 _Mhm_.

 **Thank you for listening, but I have to bring Graham to the airport.**

 _Which airport_?

 **JFK**.

 _Good luck. If you need anything, I'll be here._

She put her phone in her purse and made her way to her car. After driving to Graham's, she fixed her hair and made her way to his door. Without hesitation, she rang the doorbell. He swung open the door and smiled big, handing her some suitcases to put in the car. She laughed.

As they began to go to the airport, things started to feel even worse than they already had. Regina had been through this before.

* * *

" _Do you seriously have to go?" she sniffled into his shoulder, "Why can't you stay with me?"_

" _I know, it's hard, but my father has to go work, and hopefully we will see each other soon." Robin said, rubbing her back._

" _I don't want you to go, I'll miss you too much." she said._

 _He pulled away from her and held her hand, looking down to the floor and trying not to look into her eyes._

" _Okay, you have to go." she wiped the tears off her cheeks and let go of his hands, turning away from him._

" _I'll be back, I promise. I will think of you everyday while I'm in England." he said before kissing her gently on her lips._

 _They leaned their foreheads together and she said a faint, "Goodbye." as he let her go and got onto the plane._

 _Suddenly, she saw him run back off the plane and speak a few words to the flight manager. He ran over to her and grabbed her hand._

 _"Take this." he said, placing a bracelet in her hands._

 _"Your bracelet?" she said._

 _"It's got Robin Hoods crest on it. Something for you to remember me by." he smiled pushing a strand of her hair behind her ear._

 _The flight manager called to him as he turned and started to run back._

 _"I love you." she said as she watched him for what might be the last time she will ever see him._

* * *

They arrived at the airport and emptied the car, soon moving to security and the boarding area. Graham, who was reluctant to get on the plane, looked nervous as hell. He kept pacing until Regina noticed and stopped him.

"I know I haven't left yet, but I can't help but miss you already." he said. She blushed and hugged him.

"Stop worrying, you'll be okay." she said.

"I'm not worrying about myself, I'm worrying about you. How will you be without someone to care for you?" he said.

"I can take care of myself," she smiled, "Plus I've got Emma and Killian, and the neighbors, the Nolans across the street."

"Robin," he said, "If you're in trouble or hurt, I know Robin will care for you. Don't be afraid to go to him."

Graham kissed her lips gently once and then pulled away, grabbing his suitcases and not looking back. She watched him teary eyed and looked away as he boarded the plane.


	5. And So They Come Out

**A/N: Here is chapter five. Little risky I think, but I hope you guys like it. How Robin and Regina met, and a slight surprise at the end though.**

 **This chapter is 2.8k words, getting there!**

 **Leave me a comment or question or something, so I know someone is reading. Thanks and enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

Five - And So They Come Out

It has been a day since Graham left. Regina had so far gotten better with the fact that he was away. She wasn't worrying anymore. She lived her life regularly as if he didn't leave in the first place. She kept herself tidy and made sure to check in with him every night.

Today, Regina was going to go to work, come home, and go to sleep. Or at least she thought.

* * *

She strutted down the sidewalk, her heels clicking against the concrete, and sipped her French Vanilla latte. At the same time, she went through her emails on her phone, occasionally looking up to make sure she didn't bump into anyone. Which didn't really work, since she did bump into someone.

"I'm so sorry, I wasn't paying attention, are you okay?" Regina said looking up at Robin, "Wait, it's you."

"Why do you say it like that?" he laughed.

"Why do we always meet like this?" she smiled at him and fixed her hair.

"We just have terrible sense of direction?" he joked. She laughed with him before she continued to walk.

Suddenly she felt an urge to stop and talk with him. So she did. She turned her head over her shoulder, "Wanna walk me to work? We can talk."

"If I must," he smirked, "I would walk you there if it was across the country."

"Of course you would." she laughed as he caught up to her and they began to walk to the office.

"So, how are you holding up?" he said.

"I'm doing better than I was that night. Honestly, I don't even feel like he's that far away." she shrugged.

"Well, he is like five or six states away." he laughed.

"Yeah, he is literally far away but it doesn't feel like he is."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't really miss him being next to me." she said, sipping her drink.

He stayed silent as they walked.

"That came out wrong, really, I do miss him, but ya know," she sighed.

"I know what you mean, no need to explain to me." he rubbed her shoulder. Their hands brushed, causing Regina to look down at them and pull her hand away.

"I remember when we met, down here at this candy shop." he pointed to the candy shop across the street. She laughed as the memory came to her mind.

* * *

" _Mom, I just got my allowance, let me go buy some candy," he said, "Please, I'll be quick."_

" _Robin, as long as it's under five minutes, go ahead." his mother said. Robin hugger her and ran into the shop, coming to a short stop. When he walked in there were black and white tiles on the floor. He looked straight ahead and there were tubes filled with exotic candies. He closed his eyes and take in a deep breath through his nose. He smelt the sweetness of chocolate, the sourness of sour patch kids, and the spiciness of the hot tamales. He opened his eyes and raced towards the gummy worms. He grabbed the scooper and scooped a little bit in his bag._

" _Hand me some, too, would ya?" a girl asked him._

 _He did as he was told without looking up to the girl's face, then silently placed the scooper in its original place. He looked up to her face now and all his candy dropped to the floor. Her hair was a rich shade of mahogany. It flowed in waves to adorn her glowing, porcelain-like skin. Her eyes, framed with long, thick lashes, were a dark chestnut brown and seemed to brighten the world. A straight nose, full lips - she seemed to be a picture of perfection. Had she smiled, the world would sigh with contentment. Had she laughed, the world would laugh with her. And had she wept, the world would want to comfort her._

" _Need help picking that up?" she laughed._

" _Yeah, thanks, sorry about that." he said, dropping to the floor to pick up the candy he spilled. She followed him as they both scrambled to pick up the loose pieces of wasted candy._

" _Thanks, uh?"_

" _Regina. I'm Regina Mills." she smiled at him._

" _Robin Locksley, nice to meet you." he smiled back._

" _Do you live around here?" she asked._

" _I actually just moved her and will be going to Storybrooke Middle School come fall." he said._

" _That's where I go! What grade?"_

" _Seventh."_

" _Me too!" she said with a big smile, "I guess I'll see you around Robin."_

" _I hope so." he smiled as she went to the cashier and paid for her candy. He hoped in that moment that they would be more than just acquaintances._

 _/-/_

"That was when I just moved here from England," he said, "when we first met."

"When you dropped your candy all over the floor," she laughed, "Did I scare you or something?"

"No!" he said, "I just didn't expect someone as beautiful as you to talk to me."

She stayed silent for a few seconds, hiding her blush.

"Here we are." she sighed, "Thanks for walking with me."

"No problem." he said, "Do you think we could get together sometime soon?"

"I mean, Graham might not-"

"As friends, Regina. Just two friends having fun."

"Sure, bye Robin."

He waved goodbye and watched as she walked into the office building. She went to work, did her duties, and clocked out around 3PM without seeing Emma, Killian, Robin, or the Nolans at all.

* * *

The next day was Killian's birthday, and she had forgotten.

"Hello Regina!" a voice said. Regina dropped the bowl of ice cream on the floor. She whipped her body around and saw Emma standing in the doorway with a giant smile.

"Oh my god, you scared the crap outta me!" Regina put her hand on her chest as if she had a heart attack.

"Isn't that my job?" Emma giggled. Regina stood up and walked to the kitchen.

"I guess, um, what is-" She grabbed a rag and wet it with some water to clean up the mess from her icecream.

"Bring it in here, yep, place it there please, in the dining room." Emma turned to Robin who was carrying a big bulletin board with post it notes plastered all over it and a bag of art supplies.

"Emm, what is all this? And why do you have Robin" Regina asked as she began to rub the stain on her living room carpet.

"Uhm, we are planning a giant surprise party, remember? And Robin is here for later." Emma laughed, and grabbed for the door behind her.

"I was thinking a small get together-" Regina looked up at her and pushed the hair out of her face.

Emma was very excited for Killian's birthday. Although, she didn't know what to get him. Or even what to do for him. Well, maybe she had an idea… The love game?

The love game was a little thing Emma and Regina used to play when they were younger. Whenever someone went on a double date, the people in the couples would try to make the other couple jealous.

Emma looked Regina and asked her to go shopping. They both needed new dresses in order to win this game of love. They went to the "Sparkling Dresses Boutique", each girl determined to beat the other in sexiness, in creativity, in beauty. Neither girl said a word to one another, and they went to their opposite sides of the store. Regina, being her bright self, headed right over to the red dresses. A short, skin tight dress caught her eye. It was sleeveless and had an open back. Rimmed with jewels, and sparkled like the night sky. The straps of the dress came up and met around the back of the neck and the sides of it tightened to make a sort of bow look that hugged the legs. The front was just low enough to cover up to the mid breast and also had jewels lining it. Regina grabbed it, along with beautiful silver heels, payed, and ran out of the store.

And still, Emma has yet to find a dress that made her heart drop. And then, it happened. A mid sleeve, dark blue, almost navy, dress popped out of the crowd of dresses. It was short, skin tight, with a cut that went as low as just above the bellybutton. It covered just the right amount of cleavage, and hugged the body oh so perfectly. It tightened a little bit at the waist and had a thin strip of lace at the end of each sleeve. Emma grabbed her size, along with lovely black heels, payed, and ran to her apartment.

Each were determined to win, and to win greatly. Not by little, or by surrender. They wanted to be the goddess of the night. But what the boys had in mind for this game, were the girls ready for such a night?

* * *

"Are you almost done? Just because it is your birthday does not mean for a single second that you can take four hours to get ready!" Robin yelled across Killian's apartment.

"Oh, please! You've taken much-" Killian said before coming to a pause and staring at Robin.

"Killian, this game, I'm going to win it, not you." Robin's mouth dropped, staring at how good Killian looked. Sure, it was Killian's birthday, but Robin was sure he was going to win tonight.

"No promises, mate." Killian winked, "Why are you here anyways?"

"I'm here as a friend, for Regina, so she wouldn't be stuck watching you two lovebirds." he said.

Robin straightened his tie one last time before looking back at Killian.

"What makes you so sure that you will win?" Robin crossed his arms, confidently.

"Why, all the women love me." Killian smirked in the mirror.

"And they don't drool over me?" Robin brushed off the non existent lint on his shoulder.

"No." Killian laughed.

"We will see 'mate', just how much the women 'love' you." Robin scoffed before heading towards the door.

"You will, indeed, mate." Killian winked after checking himself in the mirror for one last time.

The men followed each other out of the apartment and slammed the door shut behind them. Each were very excited to see their women, but also completely ready to win this game, that all the players were so sure they were winning.

* * *

A doorbell.

Emma ran to the door after she finished applying the darkest, sexiest red lipstick she could find. Before fully arriving at the door, it swung open to reveal a very dressed up, hot, determined Regina. She raised her eyebrow and smirked. Regina slowly walked into Emma's apartment, not saying a word, as Emma scanned her body from head to toe, trying to get information on her competitor.

"Nice dress." Emma quickly said, trying to get rid of the awkward silence.

"Thanks, I'm trying to impress." Regina replied giggling, as she set her wristlet down on the counter.

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"Me and Robin are just friends, nothing will happen." she replied.

Emma sighed softly and walked over to the cabinet, grabbing four glasses and a bottle of wine. She poured the wine in the four glasses and slid one over to Regina.

Another doorbell. Emma took her glass in one hand and left to go open the door. She swung it open and her mouth dropped. Robin stood in front of her, his hair was slicked back, his suit was tight in all the right places, and hugged his body so well. You could smell his cologne from a mile away. He didn't look at Emma, but looked straight at Regina who sat behind her at the counter.

He nodded his head. "Hello, Emma." He slid past her and walked towards Regina, and said, "Regina, can I just say how lovely you look tonight? You look absolutely stunning. In every way." He smirked and kissed her cheek. Emma walked out of the apartment and down the hallway to get some space. She bumped into a man in a gray suit. He had a black tie on, and smelt really good. She began to say, "I'm so sorry," And looked up, flipping her hair out of the way, blinking a couple of times before blushing. The man bit his lip and smiled. "Oh my gosh, Killian, you handsome thing!" Emma's mouth opened widely to reveal her pearly white teeth that were earlier hidden by her thick red lips. He grabbed her by the waist pulling her closer, and kissed her cheek. He paused next to her ear for a second and said, "Might I say, you look beautiful." She blushed and grabbed his hand, pulling him towards her apartment. And they were off.

They finally arrived at the restaurant, but Killian decided to spice things up a little. He helped Emma out of the car and guided her to the reserved booth they had. He sat next to her and sat Regina in front of him. Robin sat next to Regina and looked quite confused until Killian spoke.

"So, this is a very romantic restaurant? Isn't it, love?" Killian said, looking around.

"It's very romantic." Emma smiled.

Emma bit her lip and reached across the table for Killian's hand. She began playing with his fingers before Regina excused herself, and walked towards the jukebox. She stood there nervously staring at the list of songs, playing with fingers until Robin came to stand beside her.

"Robin." Regina looked down at her hands.

"Regina, I'm sorry about what's happening over there." Robin said as he grabbed her hands, making her look up at him.

"No, you don't get to be sorry." she shook her head trying to avoid awkward eye contact.

"Regina, we can leave, I understand if you're uncomfortable." Robin started to say.

"We will make them surrender. Robin, we need to win this. We have to do whatever it takes, I don't care, but we are winning this." Regina looked right into his eyes now, as if she was looking into his soul. She had some sort of revengeful look mixed with a great amount of happiness in her eyes.

"Regina, are you sure about this?" Robin said, surprised.

"As long as it doesn't get too far.." Regina smiled hugely.

Regin grabbed Robin's cheeks with her hands, hoping to get the other two's attention, in which she did, and kissed him smack dab on the lips. Robin's eyebrows raised as he roughened the kiss, pushing Regina against the jukebox. Regina smiled revealing her white teeth and slowly pulled away. Robin licked his lips and grabbed her hand, and start to guide her back to the table. They both sat down and it was silent. The waitress finally brought over the wine after a whole 5 minutes of pure and utter silence.

"Thank you." Regina said with a small smile.

Regina poured wine for them all and brushed Robin's hand in the process.

"So I was thinking we could go to the park? Instead of being here for another boring hour." Emma said smirking.

They laughed and left the restaurant and began to walk to the park.

"I'm sorry about that Robin. I can't let it happen again." Regina said to him.

"I understand, we are just friends." he replied.

"And I have Graham."

"Regina, can I ask you something and you will answer it truthfully?" he asked, coming to a stop and sitting on a bench, where she followed him.

"Go ahead."

"Do you love Graham?"

Her mouth dropped, she turned her head away and looked out to the lake next to the gazebo they were sitting near, "I don't really know."

"Well, you told me once what love was," he said, "Is that what you guys have?"

"No. I guess we don't."

They sat in silence for a few minutes until Emma and Killian walked up to them and relieved them of awkwardness. The our said their goodbyes and made their ways to their homes, forgetting whatever happened and whatever was said that night.


	6. Let It Go

**A/N: Very, very, very, interesting chapter today. Before reading the chapter title, just know that as I wrote this, I sang the song over and over again.**

 **I hope you enjoy this, maybe it's a step towards all your dreams and desires for this fanfic. Leave me something to make me smile, or not, maybe something to make me write. Any ideas?**

* * *

Six - Let It Go

After what had come out the past night, Regina's mind had gone wild. She couldn't think straight. Not about work, not about Graham, and definitely not about Robin. Everything had been turned upside down and was spinning, and never coming to a stop. She stayed home that day, for her own personal need, and even though Gold didn't like it, she still did it. He may not of enjoyed her staying home as much as she did, but he wasn't in the right mind if he was going to fire her.

Regina slammed the alarm clock to make it shut up, the noise was aggravating. Her head pounded from the drinks they shared last night, her eyes grew weak from her lack of sleep, and her body ached like she was under the weight of a thousand boulders. She lazily pulled herself out of her bed, groaning after every inch her body moved. Eventually she had moved around enough to wake her body up, and she finally stood up from her bed. She trudged over to her dresser across the room and grabbed her phone. The screen lit up and almost blinded her.

She saw many messages from Robin, almost twenty of them, each with many questions and statements, all to which her brain couldn't process at one time. The most recent one however, asked her to meet him at the coffee shop in a half hour. She didn't answer any of them, but still decided to get ready and meet him there, even if I wasn't in her best interest.

She quickly got in the shower and blow dried her hair, soon after getting dressed in black skinny jeans and a red top. She applied light makeup and made her way to her car. She drove to the coffee shop and saw Robin sitting in their booth through the window. She smiled to herself, but quickly shook it off.

"You can't, Regina." she said to herself. As much as she once wanted to, she knew it wasn't a good idea. She couldn't fall for him again. She sighed and made her way out of the car and into the coffee shop. She waved to him and gave him a small smile, then sat across from him.

"Regina, hi."

"Good morning, Robin." she said.

"Listen, about last night," he said, "I didn't mean to make you say anything you didn't want to."

"It's fine."

"No really, I feel like you hate me now." he sighed.

"I don't hate you, Robin. I never could," she said, looking up at him, "I think what I said was needed to be said, whether it needed to be said to you or to Graham, is a different story."

"You mean, you would tell Graham you don't love him?" Robin said before sipping his coffee.

"I almost did the night of the Halloween Drink Party."

"What actually happened that night, Regina?" he asked.

"After he got off of you, he brought me to an empty room and locked the door so I couldn't get out. I told him to let me go home, but he kept telling me that if he let me out, I'd go running to you," she broke their eye contact now, "So I told him I wouldn't because I just wanted to go home, but he didn't believe me. He asked me to prove to him somehow that I wouldn't go crying to your safety."

Robin just watched as her face turned sad and her eyes grew watery.

"I kissed him, and he told me he loved me, and I just ignored him and left the room. I left the party and walked home that night, it took a half hour in the freezing cold wind," she said, "But the worst part about this is the next day before we made up, he told me to keep my distance from you, because he didn't trust me."

"Regina, I had no idea that had happened." Robin said.

"Yeah, it was a rough couple of days, and we made up, and I watched him leave me at the airport, and you wanna know what the worst part about that was?" she said.

"What?"

"I just couldn't say goodbye. All I could think about was when you left for England, and how you had promised to come back soon but didn't come back until after five years," she looked up at him with her wet eyes, "And I kept imagining it was you, leaving me yet again, not him. I didn't tell him I loved him, I didn't tell him that I would miss him. Nothing. I said nothing."

"I'm not going to leave again, Regina," he said reaching for her hand, "You don't have to worry."

"The last thing he said to me was that if I needed someone or something, to go to you, because he knew you would be first in line to help and care for me."

"He was telling the truth." Robin replied.

"Last night was rough," she said, "I just wanted to win that foolish game, and then we, took it out of hand, I kissed you, and it wasn't supposed to happen." she said, taking her hand from his.

"Regina, it meant something. I know you felt it." he said.

"I have a boyfriend, Robin."

"That you don't love." Robin said.

Regina stayed silent.

"Weren't you the one who told me that things shouldn't weigh you down? That you should let stuff go?" he said as the memory flashed through her mind.

* * *

 _"She's my girlfriend, buddy!" Paul yelled as he backed Robin into the corner. All Robin did was help Regina up when she fell during gym. She had hurt her leg and he helped her up, and since she couldn't walk, he carried her to the nurse's office. It's not like he kissed her or anything._

 _Paul was overreacting, and it wasn't fair to Robin._

" _Dude, someone had to help her!" Robin yelled back, trying to protect himself._

" _Yeah, but that person should have been me!" Paul yelled, slowly getting closer to Robin. Robin was now against the wall and almost the whole school was watching. Paul raised his fist and slammed Robin right in the jaw._

" _Paul! Stop it!" Regina yelled at him, grabbing his arm. He then grabbed her wrist tightly and said, "If you ever tell me what to do again, it won't be pretty." She started crying._

" _Paul, that hurts." She said, tears falling down her face. He finally let go, and Robin was already bleeding terribly. Paul hit him again and then grabbed her wrist once more, pulling her away from hurt Robin._

" _Don't you ever talk to that man again, do you understand me?"_

" _Paul, I was hurt, and you weren't there for me."_

" _You made a mistake, Regina, and now because of that mistake, someone had to get hurt."_

" _Paul, you did this to him, not me."_

" _Shut up, Regina. Forget about it, forget about him, forget about it all."_

" _Paul!"_

" _Let's go. This never happened. Don't bring it up during dinner time at my mother's house tonight."_

 _He finally let go of her wrist. His tight grasp left a dark red mark on her wrist, one that soon turned into a bruise._

 _"I'm not coming, we're done." Regina said._

 _"You'll regret it."_

 _"Go away." Regina said before rushing over to Robin._

 _"I'm sorry that this happened, Robin. I won't ever let anything happen to you again." she said._

 _"I need to get him back." Robin stated._

 _"No, no, no. You need to let it go. Don't let anything weigh you down." she said, rubbing his cheek._

 _"Regina, thank you." he said._

 _"What are best friends for?" she laughed and helped him._

 _That was two years after they had met, and a year before their Halloween outing, one of the many times Regina had put Robin before herself._

* * *

"Yes, it was me." she sighed.

"So then, don't let this stuff get to you. Let it out, let it go. Tell someone." Robin insisted.

"You're right, I'll tell someone."

"Good."

"Robin, I don't love Graham."

"That's one person, now tell another." he laughed.

She whipped out her phone and dialed Emma's number.

 _Hello_?

 **Emma**?

 _Mhm_?

 **I don't love Graham.**

 _What_?

 **I'm going to let him go. I think I am. When he gets back.**

She nodded and hung the phone up.

"You're going to-"

"I'm gonna let go of the weight holding me back." she said, "Thank you for everything you did a long time ago." Regina said, wrapping her hands around one of Robin's hands.

"Anytime." He smiled. They both stood from the booth and stared at each other.

Regina leaned into the space between their bodies and said, "It means a lot."

Their faces were only centimeters away, and both could feel the other's breath on them. Regina heard Robin swallow before she quickly turned around and walked away. She stopped right before the door and turned her head, blushing, and sending a little smile to Robin.


	7. Coming Home

**A/N: I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS CHAPTER! And I hope you all do too. Honestly, It's one of my favorites. Absolute favorites.**

 **Anyways, please, please, please, leave a review because I so badly want to see your reactions on this chapter.**

 **Love you all and see you next week, probably every Friday.**

* * *

Seven - Coming Home

Days had passed, days of endless, boring work, days of extreme loss of direction, days of terrible decisions. Each morning, a feeling of downright regret grew in the pit of Regina's stomach. Why - she didn't know. She didn't really regret anything she did. Maybe she was just feeling queasy since Graham was going to come back the next day. Maybe it was just a stupid, nervous habit of hers telling her head not to give in to Graham. She wanted to tell him how she truly felt, and unfortunately for him, it was the complete opposite of how he felt. Each minute of the day felt like hours, all adding up to the dreadful moment she had to confess her thoughts on her and Graham's relationship. However, on the flip side, each day counted down to the moment she would be a free woman, the moment where it could be just her.

Regina woke. She yawned and rubbed her eyes. Today was going to be a bad day. She got dressed and headed to work, without stopping at the coffee shop like she usually did.

"Look what the cat dragged in." Emma laughed at Regina. She looked so disheveled and tired. Regina glared at her and wrapped her arm with Emma's as the two began to walk to Regina's office.

"So, can you actually tell me what's going on with you?" Emma asked her as the walked. Regina let out a long sigh and started to tell her everything.

"Robin had me thinking."

"I should have known this had something to do with Robin." Emma said.

"No, it's not what you think, I'm leaving Graham for me, not for anyone else." she said, "I have come to the conclusion that he just isn't the one for me."

"You're leaving him?" Emma said, surprised.

"Yup."

"And when did this sudden amount of courage come to you?"

"I remembered something from the past, when I told someone something, and it just all rushed to me, and I finally realized that it just wasn't going to stick with me." Regina sighed.

"You're crazy. You need caffeine." Emma said, "Need a large espresso over here!"

"No, Emma, seriously, you don't get it." Regina stopped in her tracks, and stopped Emma with her, "I don't love him, I don't think I ever did."

"That's not what you would've said a few weeks ago, when Robin wasn't here." Emma's eyes narrowed.

"Robin has nothing to do with this, Emma!" Regina shook her head, "I am simply letting loose of all my dead weight."

"Regina, you've been with Graham for three years, are you sure about all this?" Emma said, "Because I think you're utterly insane."

"Emma, I am sure."

"I mean, he was going to propose to you that one night us four went out."

"He was going to propose?" Regina's mouth dropped.

"Yup, but he didn't, and later he told me it was because he didn't think you would say yes."

"He was right, I wouldn't of said yes."

"Stop the crap, Regina. You loved him, and I bet you still do." Emma said.

Regina began to walk again and shook her head, "Nope. Believe what you want Emma, but believing doesn't make it true."

"I think that's exactly what makes it true," she said, "I mean this guy gives you everything you've ever asked for, he treats you well, he buys you things, he tells you he loves you."

"You don't know what happens behind closed doors, or when you're not around, or when he's angry. You don't know a thing!" Regina yelled at her.

"You're right, I don't, but I do know that Graham loves you, and if you are going to let him go, then do it at the right time, and not right when he gets home."

"I will do it whenever I see him." Regina pulled out her office key and placed it in the lock.

"He loves you, you can't hurt him."

"I don't love him, Emma!" she yelled as she swung open the door.

Regina dropped her bag to the floor and Emma dropped her mouth as the two saw Graham standing in the middle of her office with a smile.

"What's happening?" Graham asked, concerned. He walked over to Regina and wrapped his arms around her. She didn't speak, but she wrapped her arms around him.

"We were just chatting." Emma said before leaving the two in Regina's office.

"Why did she leave in such a rush?" Graham asked.

Regina pulled away from his embrace and shut the door behind him, "When did you get back?"

"A few hours ago, I wanted to surprise you." he smiled. She walked past him and placed her bags and coat on her desk and turned back to him.

"Oh, you surprised me." she laughed nervously.

"What's wrong, Regina?" Graham said, "You seem dull."

She stayed silent.

"Talk to me."

"You won't like what I have to say."

"Say it." he said.

"I think we should, uh, take a break." she finally blurted out. His mouth dropped and he took a step closer to her, pushing her more toward the wall and almost against it.

"What? Why? Had something happened that I don't know about?" he immediately said.

"What? No. I just think we are going through too much to be happy together." she said.

He took a step closer to her, making her now against the wall and fearing for her life, his temper always got out of hand. He placed his hand on the wall next to her shoulder, and leaned towards her, "And what might that be?"

"We are toxic, Graham, in every way." she shivered under her body, which was almost pressing against her.

"How are we toxic?"

"I'm scared for us, for you, for me. You scare me. When you come near me, I flinch. Your touch makes me want to bolt. I'm scare that one day you might not be able to control your temper. I'm scared that one day you might not care anymore. You might let everything float away and go crazy." she admitted.

"Does this have anything to do with Robin?"

She stayed silent and shook her head.

"Then why all of a sudden do you want to break up?"

"I just think it's necessary for us to take a break."

"Regina, I love you. I always have, and I'll never stop."

"Please step away from me, Graham." she swallowed, "You're scaring me."

He grabbed her wrist under no control, he didn't know he was doing it. She looked down at her wrist which was now under his tight grasp and let out a faint sigh. He noticed and stopped, before storming out of the room.

Regina let out a long sigh and finished her duties at work, soon clocking out and making her way home. She drove home silently and watched as the little snow flurries fell from the sky. She went straight to her bed and fell into a long, much need sleep.

* * *

The next day, Regina came back to work, of course more cautious than ever. Regina smiled and left the front desk. She walked towards her office and quickly looked to her feet. She bumped into Graham.

"Regina! I've been calling you, and you haven't answered. I was worried." Graham said.

"Glad to know you still care." Regina said sarcastically. She tried to walk past him but he grabbed her arm, stopping her. She wasn't in the mood to start anything, and not in the view of all her co-workers.

"Regina, I _do_ care." He replied.

"I know you care, just not about me." Regina said, not making eye contact.

"Let's do this somewhere else." Graham said quietly.

Robin pulled her into his office.

"Look, I'm sorry. I haven't been myself these past few weeks. All I do is walk around my house, drunk, every night, and you know what I talk to myself about? You. I sit around and think about you. There wasn't one second in the time we were apart that I wasn't thinking about you. I know, I screwed up, big time, but I can't help but think we should be together." Graham said holding her hands, as tears rolled down his cheek.

"We shouldn't be together, Graham. You messed up, and a cut that deep cannot be fixed with a few stitches." Regina said, pulling her hands away, trying so very hard not to break down.

"You weren't wrong, Regina! I need you, I want you, I love you." Graham said looking into her big brown eyes.

"I'm sure you do love me, but that's what hurt me. You loved me and you still went ahead and did everything you did." Regina stepped back.

She stepped back once more and started to cry.

"Regina don't cry." Graham reached for her hand.

"Robin, I can't right now. I have to go do work." She stepped back again, wiping her tears. She turned towards the door.

"Later then, please?" Graham asked, hopeful.

"Maybe, I don't know." She said, before running out of his office. She started to sob as she finally reached her office. She ran in, slammed the door shut and locked it. With one movement, her bags were all on the couch and she was running for tissues. She then started to sob even louder. She walked toward the door and leaned against it. How could she be this torn? Why was she so upset? They broke up, it was over. But she was crying for another reason. She was crying because she loved someone else. She melted everytime this someone looked at her, she wanted to be in his arms right now, she wanted to be able to kiss him. That was the problem. She wanted him. She needed him.

Hours passed and Regina was about to make her way home. But she knew she need to talk to Graham, to clear the air.

Regina made her way down the hall and to Graham's office. Before stepping in, she laid her bags down on the floor, took off her blazer, and took a deep breath. She walked in. She was not emotionally, mentally, or physically prepared for this; She was much vulnerable after her crying earlier. She made eye contact with him before either one said anything. It was like a bond that was tugging on their bodies to tell them to make up. To tell them they needed each other. Graham was the first to break the silence.

"Regina, glad you came." Graham stood up from his desk and walked around it as Regina shut the door behind her.

"What do you want Graham? I believe I have said everything I need to." She stepped closer with her arms crossed over her chest. She was trying to stay as strong as she could. She didn't want to break down, especially not right in front of him.

"No, Regina, I can't go on thinking you hate me." Graham stepped closer.

"I don't _hate_ you." Regina moved her eyes so that she wasn't looking directly at him.

"Regina, I'm so sorry. I messed with something that was perfect. I never realized how special we were until it was gone. " He continued, "If only I could show you how much you mean to me, I would prove it to you. But I can't. I realize we need a break, and I completely understand your feelings." Graham said, stepping closer. She looked up at him now.

"Thank you."

"Can we at least be friends, or acquaintances? Just because I can't have you to myself, doesn't mean I don't want you in my life." he said.

She nodded and then walked out of his office.

* * *

 _Meet me in 15 minutes in front of the coffee shop._

 **Okay, but why?**

 _You'll see, just be there._

Regina threw on a scarf and jacket and ran out of her house and to her car. She drove silently to the coffee shop and parked in her usual spot, waiting for Robin. She saw him pull up and waited for him to meet her in the front.

"May I ask why you needed me here so quickly?" he laughed.

"Nope, come on."

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Just trust me." she giggled and pulled his arm down the sidewalk and into an empty parking lot.

"Um, I'm a little scared, Regina. Are you going to kill me or something?"

"No, but I wanted to talk to you, privately." she said.

"K, go."

"So, today, Graham came home." she said.

"Did he now?"

She nodded and continued, "And I told Emma everything, my feelings on the whole Graham situation and on our situation."

" _Our_ situation? Didn't know we had one."

"Shut up."

"Go on." he laughed.

"Anyways, I broke everything off with Graham, and we got into a fight, and we made up, and now we are just friends, even though we will never be able to fully heal from breaking up." she said quickly, "But I did figure something out today."

"And what was that?" he said with his hands in his pockets.

"That I wanted to go home."

"You didn't go home between work and coming to meet me? You must be exhausted." he said.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, "No, stupid, I wanted to go home. To a place that has always been home."

"So then, why are are you here?" he said.

"It's you. You're my home." she looked up to him, the sparkle in her eyes from the moonlight shined brighter than it ever did before. She had light red rosy color cheeks and her lips curved into a small smile. He couldn't believe what she was saying. Was she actually saying it? A gust of wind blew hard and Regina shivered to herself, but never broke eye contact with Robin. He just opened his arms and pulled her into his embrace.

He placed a finger on her her chin and smiled, "I knew you'd come back sometime."

He kissed her sweetly and welcomed her back home.


	8. Christmas Ball

**A/N: This is a cute chapter guys, I'm giving you some cute OutlawQueen. I hope you enjoy it and leave me a review.**

 **BUT I also have a question for you guys to answer - Do you mind if I put some drama in here? I think it's necessary for the story to proceed, but if you don't want it, I definitely won't put it in there.**

 **Thanks and I love you all. Till next time.**

* * *

Eight - Christmas Ball

Regina woke up from a long nap and yawned. It was around 4PM and she hadn't eaten since breakfast. She rang up Robin and waited for him to pick up.

Hello? This is Robin.

"I know it's Robin, silly. You're in my contacts."

Hello beautiful.

"Hello handsome, listen I haven't eaten, you wanna meet up for dinner?"

Sure, meet me at Granny's in ten?

"See you then."

She hung up her phone and re applied some makeup before grabbing a jacket and her car keys, and making her way to the car.

She drove a good five minutes to Granny's and spotted Robin already outside waiting for her. She parked the car and smiled at him.

"Why are you standing outside? It's like 25 degrees." Regina hit him playfully.

"I wanted to wait for you."

"You could have waited inside." she laughed at him and pushed him into the restaurant. They sat at a booth and order their food.

"How's everything holding up at the Mills household?" he said, folding his hand on the table.

"Good, and at the Locksley house?"

"Lonely." he smirked at her.

Their food showed up a few minutes later and they ate, stopping for breaks occasionally to talk and laugh.

Eventually it reached 6PM and that meant Regina had to go.

"I guess I will see you later?" she smirked at him and raised an eyebrow.

"You won't know which one is me, there will be masks."

"Oh, I'll know it's you." She kissed his cheek as he wrapped his arms around her body. He guided her head so he could kiss her lips and then smiled, before walking her to her car.

* * *

It was her symbol of elegance. It fit flawlessly, the dress molded her torso beautifully, complimenting her feminine shape. The gown draped past her toes, slightly drifting from her legs. It was the color of a dark night's sky; not black, but very, very dark red. It's strapless style revealed her precious collarbones wrapped in smooth, luring, skin. There was a silk band at the top, lining around the top of the bust. Regina fastened the last button on her cover up before putting her sparkling silver high heels on. She pulled her curled hair to one side and left some the hang in the back. After this, she applied a dark red lipstick and another coat of mascara. She grabbed her phone and texted Emma, 'On my way!'

When she arrived at Emma's house, she rang the doorbell, smiling and waiting for Emma to answer. Emma opened the door and revealed her beautiful dress. It was a light purple, too dark to be lavender, but too light to be indigo. It had thick sparkles concentrated at the top which diffused to a lower concentration at the bottom. Her sweetheart neckline showed just the right amount of skin. Her hair was straightened, and she had pretty makeup on; a silverish theme. Her lips were covered in a light pink lipstick.

"Holy shit, Gina! You look absolutely stunning!"

"As do you, Emma!" she smiled.

"Come on."

They got into the car, fastening their seatbelts, and put on some music. Emma started the car and they were on their way to the Christmas Town Ball. It was a town tradition every year. Everyone would dress up and have a good time, drink some drinks, meet some people, it was the time of your life.

"So? Are you excited?" Emma asked.

"Yeah, except I know Graham will be there." Regina sighed.

"Yeah, but you have me."

"Except you will be dancing with Killian?" Regina laughed.

"Oh yes, of course, my love Killian." Emma laughed along with her.

"Oh, so how are you two?"

"Great, we're great." Emma smiled as she parked the car, "Come on, we're here."

Emma reached to her back seat and grabbed the two masks. They were small enough only to cover their eye area. Emma's was a purple one; lined with jewels, and covered in sparkles. Regina's was silver. Just silver; nothing else. She liked the simplicity. They got out of the car, fixed themselves, and walked into the ball center.

* * *

After a few songs, Regina had decided to sit down. Emma had been hanging out with Killian the whole night, dancing and laughing. A slow song came on. 'Great' Regina thought. It was the perfect opportunity to be embarrassed for not dancing. She continued to sip her drink as the couples took the floor. She leaned back and sat there awkwardly. She moved her vision to Emma and Killian and smiled sweetly.

"At least one of us is having a good time."

She laughed to herself and continued to drink.

"May I have this dance?" A man in a black suit came up to her. He had a red tie that almost matched her dress perfectly. He smiled at her offering his hand. She took it and blushed. They danced, they talked, they laughed.

"Robin, I know it's you." she laughed into his shoulder, "I remember our first Christmas Ball."

* * *

 _"Just pick something christmasy, Regina." Robin complained._

 _"It's not that easy for a girl to pick out a dress to wear to her first ball." Regina rolled her eyes._

 _"Well, then allow me to pick it out for you."_

 _"Never. A girl needs to pick what she has to clothe her body with." Regina laughed._

 _"How bout this?" Robin pointed to a dark purple dress that had a velvet material and white sparkles all over it._

 _"No thank you."_

 _"This one?" He pointed to a dark orange, almost red dress that had white stripes across it horizontally._

 _"Nope," Regina smiled at him, "This is what I'm talking about. Boys have no sense of style."_

 _"Yes we do! I mean, look at this outfit I'm wearing." Robin showcased his suit he had been holding in his hand and smirked._

 _"Your mom and I picked that out." Regina rolled her eyes again and walked down another aisle. Robin went his own way, in hopes of finding his mother, but stopped and found a dress that he thought would look perfect on Regina. He called for her._

 _"Yes, my dear friend?"_

 _"I think this-" he grabbed it and held it up to Regina's body, "would look fantastic on you."_

 _It was a dark red, silky material. If on, it would go just above her knees. The waistband was a see through mesh material as well as the neckline. It was sleeveless, but came with a white coverup that had sparkles._

 _"I love it." Regina said, hugging him. He, surprised at first, suddenly accepting what was happening, and hugged her back._

 _The next night, Robin arrived at her house and rang the doorbell. Her father answered._

 _"Regina! Your boyfriend is here!" her father yelled up the stairs._

 _She walked down the stairs, struggling to tie the coverup herself. Robin ran over to her and helped her._

 _"Father, we are only 14, no sense of love yet."_

 _Robin gave her father a glare and rolled his eyes, "What an amazing daughter you have." His sarcasm was caught by Regina._

 _"Your shoe's untied, Robin."_

 _He dropped to the floor and same his shoe, that was in fact, not untied._

 _"Gotcha," Regina laughed, "Now let's go."_

 _They got in Robin's mom's car and they made their way to the Christmas Ball._

 _"Now if you two need anything, I'm literally three buildings away." his mother said, before planting a light kiss on Robin's cheek and rubbing Regina's shoulder._

 _"You're mom is so cute." Regina giggled._

 _"Shut up, come on." Robin pulled her into the ballroom and they started to dance._

* * *

Regina turned her head out of Robin's shoulder and looked around. She smiled at him and then saw someone in the back corner looking at her. It was Graham. He was talking to a man, tall and scruffy, with jet black hair, who went by the name of Neal. He wasn't the greatest of guys to be around. Why was he talking to Graham? Suddenly, Graham pointed to her and Neal turned his head over his shoulder, eyeing Regina down. Regina got chills throughout her entire body before she turned her head back into Robin's shoulder. Why were he and Graham staring her down? Probably talking about her. Why were they talking about her? She kept this to herself, she couldn't worry Robin.

After a few songs, they made their way to the hallway. The two slowly walked down it. It was dark; there were no lights on. The only lights were the ones that came from the moon. It was quiet; only their voices were to be heard.

"So are you having fun?" he asked.

"I wasn't but now I am."

"I'm glad."

They walked in silence for a few seconds.

"You look absolutely stunning."

"Thank you, and you absolutely handsome."

He stopped walking, pulling her arm to sit her down on a bench in the hallway.

"You know, I saw Graham here, did you see him yet tonight?" Robin asked.

She shook her head no.

"Are you okay? Is something bothering you?" Robin asked.

"Just the fact that I didn't see Graham is bothering me," she lied, "He isn't the safest person."

* * *

 _"Regina, why didn't you do the goddamn task I asked you to do three hours ago?" Graham yelled._

 _"One, you aren't my boss, and two, I had other things to do."_

 _"What did you just say to me?" He said, walking over to her and slamming his stack of papers on the desk in front of her face._

 _She stayed silent and looked at him frightened._

 _"I'm sorry that I didn't do them."_

 _"You better be damn sorry." He said, turning on his heel and pacing back to his desk._

 _"What the hell was that?" she said._

 _"What the hell was what?"_

 _"Why did you just flip out on me?" she said, leaning back against her chair._

 _"You didn't do what I told you to do."_

 _"Like I said, you aren't my master." she said, standing from the chair and walking towards the door. As she passed him, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her towards him, making their bodies touch._

 _"Don't talk to me like that ever again, Regina." Graham stated, holding her wrist up in between them._

 _"Graham, you know my past with Paul, I trusted you enough to tell you what happened, and yet, everyday you're becoming more and more like him." She said, trying hard to pull her wrist away._

 _"I am not Paul." he let go of her wrist and watched as she began for the door._

 _She stopped in front of it, "Not yet, you aren't."_

* * *

"I'm here, you don't need to worry."

"And I thank you for that." she said. She placed her hand on his cheek, rubbing it softly with her thumb. She pulled his head closer, resting her forehead on his. She slowly pulled him closer, locking their lips to create a sweet, but passionate, kiss.


	9. And In The Dark Night

**A/N: So here's the beginning of what I think might be a very dramatic arc of the story. I needed to spice it up a little to draw you all in, so here it is.**

 **Leave me a review after this chapter, because I'm afraid that you may not be happy with the next few chapters. I would like to know you guys still care about the story while you are still somewhat enjoying it.**

 **I need to know you guys still care. Till next time.**

* * *

Nine - And In The Dark Night

"And in the dark night, we see might not see it yet, but our hearts feel it oh so bright." she said as she leaned against his shoulder.

"The light, the light that warms our hearts, the one that brightens the day and shows our true parts…" he followed.

"May it never stop shining, in the dark night. Or it will end as the dark night and never be light. Our hearts will never feel it, ours days will never shine, our eyes will never see it, but we might just die." she smiled at him and kissed his cheek.

"I think I love your poems." he said against her hair.

"Do you really? That one was inspired by love." she laughed.

"Do we finally now understand love or are we still depending on Shakespeare?" he laughed as she playfully hit him. Regina stood from the couch and grabbed their ice cream bowls with her right hand, and pushed her hair behind her ear with her left. She made her way into the kitchen, where her phone was charging, and put the empty bowls in the sink. She heard her phone buzz.

She read the text message from Graham.

 _If you thought anything of last night, I'm sorry. Did not mean to scare you. See you at work tmrw._

She got chills up her arms and down her spine while reading the message. He knew she had seen him. And she still didn't tell Robin. But now she didn't have to, right? Graham said to think nothing of it.

She shrugged and placed her phone back on the countertop before making her way back into the living room and resting her body between Robin's and a couple of pillows. She wrapped her arms around him and dug her head into his embrace, wanting some sort of protection. To her demand, he wrapped his arms around her body and held her tight. She smiled to herself and kissed him goodnight before falling asleep in his lap.

* * *

She woke up the next morning in her bed, confused of what had happened after she fell asleep the previous night.

* * *

 _He watched her sleep in his lap and played with her hair. She was an angel, she was his angel. It was past eleven and Robin had work tomorrow, so he picked her up wedding style, and carried her to her bedroom. Without waking her, he slipped her shoes off and tucked her into her covers, brushing her hair off her face in the process._

 _He kissed her forehead and whispered, "I love you."_

 _Robin made his way out of her house and to his car. The roads were dark, there were no lights, almost like the possible ending of Regina's poem. But her poem ended with if there was no light, they would just die._

 _Robin got chills just thinking about her poem as he drove down the dark streets and to his house. He got to his house and pulled in the driveway before getting out of the car and going to the front door. He dug into his pocket for his house key and struggled to find it before he saw a shadow glide past him._

 _He swung his body around and only saw a dark shadow, a dark fist, and of course, the dark night._

* * *

Regina jumped in the shower and quickly blow dried her hair, giving it some sort of wave for the day, before gluing it down with hairspray. She applied a good amount of makeup, enough to make her look awake, even though she was completely dead inside from the fun her and Robin had the night before. She got dressed in a black pant suit, and a burgundy blouse, under it a black tank top with lace on the edges. She topped everything off with some jewelry and black heels, before making her way to the kitchen to make some lunch. She checked her phone, which was still charging from the night before, and there was no message from Robin. There wasn't any notifications for anything. She shrugged before throwing a sandwich and an ice tea into her lunch bag. After grabbing her phone and storing it in her pocketbook, she applied some lipstick and made her way to the door with her bags and her lunchbox.

Regina got into her car and went straight to the office. Of course she wanted her coffee, but she had a strange feeling about today and she wanted to get rid of it. Her gut pulled from the inside and her stomach was in knots. She got chills and her mind started to think crazy. After pulling into her normal parking spot, she strutted to the doors, waving at the lady at the front desk and making her way up the stairs to her floor. She greeted Mr. Gold and his secretaries before opening her office door and settling inside.

She plopped down on her couch and let out a long sigh, "This is going to be a long day."

She heard the door unlock behind her.

"Good morning, Regina."

"Graham? Hello." she said, straightening herself and turning around.

"How was your night?" he asked.

"Fine. And yours?"

"It was successful." Graham said before clearing his throat, "I managed to finish a lot of my work."

She nodded and walked over to her desk before unpacking some files she had from home.

"How is everything?" he asked, "With you and Robin, I mean."

"I had to move on from you Graham, I just-"

"Oh, no. I get it. It's completely fine." he nodded.

She felt nervous for a second. He was controlling his temper a little _too_ well.

"Did you enjoy the christmas ball?" she said, turning around and leaning against her desk.

"Very much, thanks for asking." he replied, "Well, I have to go. See you later at the meeting."

"Meeting?" she said as he walked out of her office without answering her.

She sighed and began her work for the day, knowing that if she did indeed have a meeting like he said they did, she would need all the time she could use to get her work done.

* * *

The clock struck 3PM as Graham burst through her door yet again.

"Can I help you, Graham?"

"Just checking on you." he smiled before closing the door and leaving her alone once again.

* * *

Her door swung open yet again at 5PM, and to no surprise, it was Graham.

"What can I help you with Graham?" she asked, grabbing the doorknob so he couldn't close it, "And don't say that you're just checking on me."

"Sorry, it's part of my job." He stepped inside and shut the door behind him as she walked over and sat in her desk.

"You aren't my father, I don't need checking on, thank you."

She looked up and saw him clenching his fist and breathing heavily. He shut the door behind him and walked over to her desk, finally looking up at her eyes.

"Excuse me, Regina, but I think I remember asking you not to talk to me like that." he said, trying to use whatever sanity he had left.

"I'm a grown woman, I can say what I want however I want to say it." she sassed, looking down at her laptop.

He shut her laptop and kept his hand on it so she couldn't open it again.

"Graham! I was doing an important document!" she yelled at him, trying to pry his hands off her laptop.

"Regina, we have been through this," he swallowed, "You cannot speak to me like that."

"Or what Graham?" she said, "You don't own me."

 _Not anymore I don't._ , he muttered to himself.

"Graham I seriously need to finish this work if I am going to be able to attend the meeting, please stop." she begged.

"Oh, yes," he sighed and smiled, taking his hand off her laptop, "The meeting."

He walked backwards until he reached the door and simply slid through the small opening, leaving her alone in her room, scared half to death.

* * *

At 7PM, Regina was finally allowed to clock out. She searched for Graham to ask about the meeting, but there was no sign of him. Her phone buzzed.

 _Image attachment… click to open._

She click the attachment and let out a gasp as she dropped her phone to the ground.

"Was that," she swallowed hard, covering her mouth in fear, "what I thought it was?"

She slowly bent down to the ground and sat down on her knees, shutting her eyes tight as she could. She took a deep breath and leaned over to where she had dropped her phone, holding it to her chest and not opening her eyes. With another deep breath, she gained enough strength to look at the screen once more, and she was right.

It was a picture of Robin, and he was in trouble.

* * *

"So, tell me about yourself, uh?" Neal said.

"Robin, and I'm not talking to you, I don't even know who you are and you have seemed to kidnap me and are now holding me captive." he struggled to get out of the chair he was tied to.

"I just want to be friends."

"And that's why you kidnapped me?" Robin yelled.

"Eh, you're right. So who's the girl?" Neal asked, leaning on his knees and staring at Robin.

"Girl? I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about."

"You know, the one you were dancing with at the Christmas Ball?" Neal laughed, "The one with the chocolatey, silky brown hair, and those raven brown eyes that sparkle when the light hits them, the one with the big, full red lips, who was clenched to your side at the ball?"

Robin stayed silent.

"You know the girl I'm talking about, brother." Neal hit him playfully.

"I will not speak to you. I don't even know your name."

"Neal," he held out his hand, "Oh wait, you can't shake hands, you're tied up."

Robin rolled his eyes, "I'm still not telling you anything."

"That's fine, I already know who she is, I was just trying to get you to think of something happier than where you right now."

"Where am I right now?" Robin asked.

"Sorry, can't answer that. Graham-" Neal cleared his throat, "The boss will get mad."

"Graham is behind this?" Robin struggled in his chair once more, "I need to get to Regina."

"You'll turn fifty before you gain enough strength to break those ropes," Neal laughed, "Plus, I'm sure Graham is already with Regina, and if not, he will be soon."

"What's he need her for?" he yelled at Neal.

"He wants her for himself."

"I can't let him hurt her!"

"He'll do what needs to get done." Neal said, before leaving Robin alone in the darkened room.

* * *

She started to cry, but wiped the tears away and stood up. She needed to be strong, she needed to be smart. She tried hard to think of the possible people who could've done this.

"Graham." she said as she spun around and bumped into someone.

"At your service, ma'am." he laughed at her.

She stepped away from him and shivered to herself, "Where's Robin?"

"What do you mean?"

"I know you have him, Graham." she yelled, "Now where is he?"

"I'll tell you, come here, I can't say it out loud." he said. The only thing that was lighting them up was the moon. The dark night left them no light, Regina couldn't see her car, or her phone, she couldn't even see her feet. She saw the moon shining in his eyes.

She reluctantly stepped closer but not too close. He began to whisper in her ear, "You're mine now."

* * *

 **Well, if you don't like this, I'm terribly sorry. If I get enough responses from this chapter, I'll post a little early. :)**


	10. Downhill Things Go

**A/N: So here is I guess the climax of the story, and I need to warn you that there is violence in it, so if you don't want to read it, then I advise you to skip this chapter, but I think it's necessary for you to understand the storyline I'm heading for. so completely understand and hope that you at least leave me a cute message to smile if you don't read it.**

 **This was originally something else, but I changed it. Hope you enjoy it.**

 **Good luck and leave me your thoughts.**

* * *

 **Ten** \- Downhill Things Go

 _Previously on "A Promise"..._

 _"Graham." she said as she spun around and bumped into someone._

" _At your service, ma'am." he laughed at her._

 _She stepped away from him and shivered to herself, "Where's Robin?"_

" _What do you mean?"_

" _I know you have him, Graham." she yelled, "Now where is he?"_

 _"I'll tell you, come here, I can't say it out loud." he said. The only thing that was lighting them up was the moon, The dark night left them no light, Regina couldn't see her car, or her phone, she couldn't even see her feet. She saw the moon shining in his eyes._

 _She reluctantly stepped closer but not too close. He began to whisper in her ear, "You're mine now."_

* * *

 _"_ Graham-" she flinched away from him, "Please leave me alone."

Her voice quavered and her hands started to shake. She felt as if her world was closing in, as if it was all falling apart, locking her dangerously alone with Graham.

"My dear, I just want you to love me." he caressed her cheek, her flinching under his touch, and softly rubbed it with his thumb, "Let me love you, Regina."

"No, Graham, get away from me!" she yelled and pulled away from his touch, leaning against her car that she backed into. She had nowhere to go. No one to call for. No one to keep her safe. She was completely alone on this. And she could do nothing to get away from him. But run.

Her eyes averted to the pathways next to them and then back to Graham.

"Don't even think about running, Gina," he said, "It'll all happen too fast. I'll catch you, and you'll still be mine."

"I will never be yours, you don't own me!" she ran for the path, but his hand grabbed her wrist, yanking her body back to his embrace. He wrapped his arms around her body and rocked her side to side with him, kissing her hair and mumbling, "I'll make you love me." over and over again, shortly stopping to hush her soft cries.

"Please let me go, Graham." she cried. He stayed silent and ignored her, continuing to sway with her tightly in his arms.

"Graham, I can't do this, please let go." Regina said, "You're hurting me."

"I'm sorry love, but it's the only way you'll go with me." he said as he pulled her body back with his and to his car. She struggled to pull away from his tight grasp, to run, but nothing was working. He was too strong, and she was too weak. He shoved her in the back of his truck, locking the doors and making sure she couldn't get out, even if she tried. He drove silently, sometimes looking up at her in his mirror, checking that she still was there. All he saw was her crouching in the seat, her knees to her face and the silent yells for help that were expressed by her tears.

As he pulled into the driveway of a, what looked like, abandoned house, she finally took her head out of her knees and looked up. It was painted a dark gray, almost black, with gray shutters and a wooden door. The windows were wooded up and the plants in the front were dead. The trees had no leaves, and the house was not lit with any light, besides the light of the moon. Graham sighed and stepped out of the car, slamming the car door shut behind him and walking around to Regina's door. As he opened it, she scooted to the opposite side of the car so he couldn't reach her.

"Don't be like that," he grabbed her wrist as she tried to pry it away, "We'll have fun."

She pouted as he shut the car door behind her and dragged her up the front steps and into the darkened house. There was no furniture, no decor, no lights, no nothing. He pulled her down the hallway and up the steep flight of stairs, into another darkened hallway. At the end of this one, though, was a small lamp. It's light only bright enough to allow her eyes to see where he was taking her, into a small room that had nothing but a bed.

"This is where you get to stay." he pushed her in and stood in the doorframe, "I'll see you later."

He stepped out of the room and shut the door as she came running towards it, crashing into it and falling to the ground, crying. She heard a lock and his footsteps growing smaller before it was completely silent, except for her quiet whimpers for help.

It was no use though, nothing could help her, no one could save her, she was doomed.

Occasionally, she would hear the faint sounds of Robin calling to her, however, she believed that these were merely her imagination wishing that he had been there. She knew he was being held by Graham and probably Neal, and if they were smart, they would never bring Regina somewhere where Robin was. She allowed herself to at least imagine that Robin was there with her, hushing her softly and protecting her from Graham, holding her tightly and reassuring her that she'd be safe, or taking her away from this scary place. She wished that he was there to hold her hand and tell her everything would be okay. But it wouldn't be okay. She knew she was in for something terrible, something that only Graham would do, that only he would think was love. She knew that she'd put up a fight, but it wouldn't work, he'd still win. He'd still gain "ownership" of her.

She shivered as the cold temperature from the outside seeked through the walls and into her room. She was too scared to move from being against the door. She was too scared that there were things ready for her every move. So, she just stayed where she was and breathed, trying to relax and think of something better, even though she somehow knew she was never getting out.

* * *

It seemed like hours and hours had gone by. Her body ached from sitting in the same position for so long, her eyes were dry of crying too many tears, and her head was bursting with pain that all her thoughts were towards Robin.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps, of the ones that could only belong to Graham. She heard a key get pushed into the lock as she scooted over to the wall next to the door, so she wouldn't get hit by the door. A dark figure, which she assumed to be Graham slipped inside and locked the door from the inside before turning to her. The room was only light enough to see their faces, just enough to distinguish that it was Graham who was in the room with Regina. He bent down in front of her and caressed her cheek, rubbing it with his thumb and speaking, "You beautiful thing, you're so scared."

She didn't answer him, but she took her head from his hand and looked the other way.

"You deserve everything in the world, all the love, the happiness, the wealth." he turned her head towards him by her chin, and brushed her hair behind her ears.

"You're too perfect for anyone else."

"Graham, you need to stop." she said as she stood from the ground and pushed past him, "I don't love you."

"Ah, but you did once," he turned to her, "Before that wretched boy from way back when came back."

"He has a name." she said.

"What is it that he has that I don't have, Regina?" he asked, "What is it that makes you love him?"

"I don't need to answer that." she crossed her arms and sat down on the bed.

"But you do."

"And why is that?" she said.

"Because you seem to forget that I have him hostage, too," he smiled, "And with one call, he could get a nice beating."

Graham smiled wickedly and let out a cynical laugh. He walked over to the bed and stood in front of Regina, staring at her for a few minutes. He then bent down and whispered in her ear, "The real question is, are you going to save him or yourself?"

"What do you want?"

* * *

"Yo! Are you awake?" Neal yelled into the dark room.

Robin lifted his head, he had no energy whatsoever, and rolled his eyes.

"When can I get out of here?" Robin asked weakly.

"That's what I came to talk to you about." Neal shut the door behind him and walked over to Robin, "I can look the other way if you want to leave."

"And why would you do that?"

"Because I have my own girl at home, and I know what it feels like to miss her and not know if she's okay." Neal shrugged, "Besides, brothers gotta look out for each other."

"I'm not your brother."

"Whatever, just get out of here and find your lady!" Neal quickly untied Robin's wrists from the chair and pushed him up to a stance. Robin turned to him and nodded.

"Do you have any idea where she could be? Did Graham say anything about it?" Robin asked, rubbing his wrists that were cut from the ropes.

"The only thing I know is that it's somewhere isolated and where she wouldn't know or recognize." Neal shrugged before he pushed Robin out of the room and down the stairs to the front door.

"Thanks. Go to your girl." Robin said as he ran out of the building and tried to find his way home.

He walked down the gravel path and appeared in a forest that he knew quite well. He used to have archery classes about a mile down south from where he had ended up, and he knew there was an old abandoned log cabin about ten miles from where he was.

"Isolated, somewhere she wouldn't know?" he started to run east, "The woods, she's gotta be there."

He ran as fast as he could for about two miles, until he came to a slow walk from his lack of energy.

* * *

"We can make a deal then?" he said.

"I don't know if that's the best choice, but if its gets Robin safe, I'm all in." Regina replied.

"You're always putting people first, foolish."

"What is it that you want?"

He put a finger to his chin and smiled, "You."

"You already have me."

"I want you for me. You'll have to leave Robin if you want him safe."

"Of course I want him safe, but I'm not going to leave the one I love."

"Love is foolish, what about fun?"

"I can't leave him. He means too much to me." she turned away from him.

"Haven't you ever heard of the saying, 'If you love something, let it go'?" he smirked and laid a hand on her waist.

She stayed silent.

"It's only a matter of time before I make that call." Graham said, spinning her to look at him, "Only a matter of time before he gets hurt. We don't want that do we?"

"Just let him go, whatever, deal."

"Are you sure, Regina?"

"Whatever it takes to have him safe."

Graham pushed Regina's body onto the bed before he laughed and walked out of the room, knowing he would never let Robin go, but he got Regina to agree to leaving him.

Little did Graham know, Neal had already let Robin go.

* * *

After an hour, the log cabin finally came into Robin's vision. It was a dark color, covered up with wood and trees and dead plants. He figured this is where she was.

He suddenly heard a scream.

And it was Regina's.


	11. Into The Woods

**A/N: Hey everyone. Like I said in the previous chapter's author's note, I haven't seen a lot of responses or thoughts on my posts. I just want to know that there are some people that are still actually reading this for the story and who are waiting for the sun to shine once again.**

 **I want to know that there are people who are in on this ride with me and who don't want to get off.**

 **Leave me your thoughts, thanks.**

* * *

 **Eleven** \- Into The Woods

Robin ran like he had never ran before. The scream he just heard replayed in his head like a broken record and all her could hear in it was her pain. He could feel her sadness as it seeped into his body just from the few seconds his ears captured her scream. He sucked in her fear and could somewhat see it through her eyes. He didn't know what was happening in that log cabin, but he did know for sure that Graham would pay for whatever he was doing to her.

He finally reached the front door and banged it hard, trying to figure out a way to get in. He scanned the windows, which were all boarded up with layers of wood, and then he scanned the other walls of the cabin. He saw a small window on the back wall that was almost fully boarded up. There was a half board in place of a full, so there was a small hole, big enough to peek inside. He ran to it and closed one of his eyes, trying to clear his vision of the other. Once his eye adjusted to the darkness of the room, he saw someone tied to a post in the middle of the room. They were struggling to get out, to break free of the ropes. He heard a yell.

"Please someone!" the person said faintly.

And it was Regina.

Robin wished he could get inside, but he couldn't, everything was locked up. All he could do was watch her and make sure she wasn't getting hurt.

Suddenly, the door in the room opened, and to which he saw, a man walked in. It was Graham.

Robin watched everything that was happening.

Graham shut the door behind him and sent Regina a cynical smile. He strolled over to her, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

Robin couldn't move.

Graham bent down on his knees so that his face was in line with Regina's, and then grabbed her chin, saying something that Robin couldn't quite make out. She looked down the the ground and shut her eyes.

Robin became furious.

As Graham stood up, Robin saw a figure of a weapon in his back pocket. It was a gun. Why did Graham have a gun? He would never hurt Regina, would he?

Robin ran around to the front of the house and tried to get in, making his fists bloody.

* * *

"Graham, please stop."

"Why don't you want me yet?" he sighed and rubbed her cheek.

"I won't ever want you."

"Regina, why do you say all the wrong things?" Graham slapped her lightly on the face and turned on his heel, walking towards the wall.

"I have something that could hurt you, so if you don't take part in this or at least pretend like you want me, I'll take it out."

She stayed silent and blew her hair out of her face.

"Do we have an understanding?" he said as she nodded, "I'm going to untie you now."

He untied her wrists and rubbed them, their marks deeply cut in her skin. As he released them to her sides, she looked up to him and almost smiled. But she stopped herself. Sure, he untied her, but he did put her through hell. The past hour or so had been true torture, full of Graham reminding Regina that she'd never see Robin again, full of her refusing to ever love Graham, full of him hitting her in response to it. Her body was covered in red marks, dark bruises, and deep cuts. Each leaving the burden of what Graham did to her.

He slowly shut the remaining space between their bodies and kissed her forehead lightly. She stood still at first, before he kissed it again. He pushed her back against the post and rubbed her hair, pushing it behind her ear. She closed her eyes and tried to forget what was happening and what might happen next. They heard a bang on the window before they both came to a stop and froze. Graham turned his head to the window and gave it a suspicious look. Suddenly, she found was she was looking for and tried to grab it, but his hand found her wrist all too quickly.

"I thought we had a deal," he said, pulling her wrist in front of his face, "Guess you're just a two faced bitch."

Her mouth dropped as he grabbed her other wrist and held them both in front of him, "Oh wait, make that a two faced slut, since you liked and probably slept with Robin the whole time you were with me."

She stayed silent but her wrists filled with pain.

"Answer one thing for me Regina."

She looked up at him.

"Did you sleep with him? Did you betray me? When we were together?" he asked. She didn't answer.

"Regina! Answer me!"

"No, we haven't, we never-," she looked down to the ground, "We didn't."

"I thought you were the one, Regina." he said to her, "I thought you were my true love."

"Well, I'm not."

"Who's your true love then?" he said as he pulled her waist to his.

"Ro-" she began to say and then stopped herself.

"Damn you, Regina! Freaking Robin this, Robin that!" Graham tightened his grip on her waist and dropped their eye contact.

One of his hands went to his back, where his gun was being held, and grasped it.

"Graham, what are you doing?" she panicked.

"I told you I would hurt you if you didn't listen." he couldn't look her in the eye, "As much as I don't want to do this, Gina, I have to."

"Please stop, you don't know what you're doing. Put the gun down." she tried to inch away from him but her being tied to the post did herself no good.

He wiped his forehead and held the gun up to her shoulder, but suddenly a burst of strength came to Regina as she pulled her wrists as hard as she could and broke free of his ropes. She pushed him down, his finger triggering the gun and letting the shot echo throughout the woods. She laid on top of him for a few minutes and finally pushed herself up, searching his pockets for the keys to escape. He was too drunk to remain conscious so she watched him fall unconscious. She finally found the key to the door and ran to it, unlocking it and running down the hallway to the stairs and down the hallway again to the front door, where she came to a stop and banged against it, before sliding down to the ground and crying some. She stood up from her knees and stuck the key in the lock, and to her surprise, the door opened.

Robin turned as he heard the door open and ran to Regina. He wrapped his arms around her and rubbed her head. She was freezing and crying. He hushed her cries softly and kissed her forehead.

"Robin, oh my god, are you okay? I was so scared for you. I missed you so much."

"Regina, I-" he began to say.

She shivered.

"Put these on, it's snowing." he handed her his jacket and his boots before grabbing her hand and pulling her away into the woods, "I know these woods like the back of my hand."

Robin pushed Regina lightly in front of him, in case anything happened with Graham behind them. Out of nowhere, they heard a gunshot echo throughout the sky. Regina turned her head over her shoulder and her eyes filled with fear. She then tripped over a hole in the ground, sending her entire body to the pile of snow in front of her. Robin ran to her and sat down next to her body, pulling it into his embrace.

"Robin, I'm cold." she said, shivering in his arms.

"I know, Gina, come here." he said, rubbing her shoulders and arms to create some body heat. Her legs were still cold to the touch from when she escaped that place and he was by no means going to ask her why, at least not now. It wasn't the right time.

She lifted her legs to her chest and hugged them before he grabbed them with his hands, her flinching under his touch, and pulling them onto his lap, "What's wrong? Why did you flinch?"

"Uh, it's nothing." she sighed and avoided his eye contact, "I'm just super cold. Thank you."

"I missed you terribly. I tried getting out of where they put me, to get to you, but everything was so well thought out and nothing could be done. If something could've been done, I would've been here faster than you can say my name," he kissed her forehead, "I swear it."

"I know you were in trouble too, I was coming to find you when he-" she stopped and looked away.

"You don't have to talk about it." he smiled at her.

"I will, just not now." she sighed, "I'm not ready."

"Regina, but are you okay?" he pushed her hair to the side and behind her ear.

"If we don't make it out of this," she ignored his question, "Both of us or any of us, I want you to know something."

"And what might that be princess?"

"I love you. I have loved you since we met. We clicked. I loved you since our first Halloween dance, our first Christmas Ball, since the day we went flower shopping for your aunt's wedding, and even the day I told you I didn't believe in love." she said, "I didn't need Shakespeare to teach me what love was, because you already did."

"I love you too, Regina, always have, always will." he kissed her lips sweetly, something that they had been longing to do since they parted, "We will make it out of this."

"Regina!" they heard Graham yell.

"Robin, I can't run, I can't even feel my legs." she pouted before he grabbed her and picked her up, starting to run with her in his arms. They saw the edge of town in front of them as Robin started to run out of breath. Regina watched as Graham slowly grew bigger and got closer to them. He held up his gun and pointed it to them, shooting it. Robin ducked to the ground, still managing to keep her safely in his arms.

Suddenly, he saw the red and blue lights of cop cars at the edge of the woods. He ran as fast as he could to them, handing one of them Regina, and running over to the chief and telling him about Graham. The officer placed Regina in his squad car and turned the heat on blast for her to warm up while the chief shouted out orders.

"Wait, Graham Humbert?" he said, "Is that what you said?"

Robin nodded.

"We've been trying to catch him for years! He's been doing these types of things all over the states and has cleaned up his trail enough so we couldn't catch him." the chief said to Robin, "Alright boys, plan 167, you know what to do."

Robin sat in the squad car beside Regina and hugged her as she fell asleep in his arms. He watched as the cops successfully cuffed Graham and rendered him weaponless, soon pulling him into another squad car and driving away. The chief walked over to Robin and knocked on the window, before opening the door and speaking, "Thanks for all you did. He will be put in for a long time for everything he's done. Is she alright?"

"I'm not sure, she has bruises and cuts everywhere, she's been freezing for who knows how long, and is probably just emotionally unstable." he sighed, "She didn't even tell me what happened in there."

"I'll get a medic right away for you two, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." he said.

"Thanks, chief."

Robin watched as the chief walked into the his car and drive away, rubbing Regina's thigh and kissing her forehead. The medic pulled up beside him before he carried her into the car and onto the inspection board. She woke before they checked her and immediately freaked out. He grabbed her and held her tight in a hug and whispered to her.

"Regina, what's wrong?" he asked.

"Robin, I can't do this. Tell them to stop." she whispered to him.

"Why? You need to get better."

"I just- I can't."

"What happened in there?" he asked, rubbing her back and looking into her eyes.

"I, uh, Graham kind of-" she swallowed hard and decided to let it out, "He attacked me, and he hurt me, and threatened to kill me."

"What? He-"

"So many times, so many punches and crapes and grabbing, before he got mad, I tried to stop him, Robin, I really did, but he hurt me and just controlled my body and I didn't-" she started to cry. Tears flooded her face and drenched his shoulder.

"You don't have to lend me the details," he said, "I'm sorry, Regina. So terribly sorry. I wish I have gotten to you sooner than I did."

"I missed you so much." she clenched his shirt and continued to cry.

"Please don't ever leave my side again." he said, a tear starting to fall down his cheek.

"I won't."

"Can you please let the man make sure you aren't hurt, I need to know." Robin brushed her hair behind her ear and kissed her lips lightly before she nodded and laid back down on the board.


	12. Love Is The Best Medicine

**A/N: Hey guys! Thanks so much for your support! This is gonna get to the good stuff now. We have successfully passed the rough waters and I hope now I will get many happy responses after this chapter (wink).**

 **Enjoy it and let me know your thoughts. XOXO**

* * *

 **Twelve** : Love Is The Best Medicine

Regina was asleep on Robin's lap.

"I've checked all of her vitals, all of which are okay. She has a lot of bruises that will take a while to heal, maybe up to four weeks. In addition, she had deep cuts on her wrists from some sort of restriction, I put some healing cream on them and wrapped them up in medical bandage." the man said, "She's got these marks on her shoulder from something that I can't quite make out, but it won't be a permanent thing, it will disappear within then next hour."

"What else can you tell me?" Robin said, placing Regina's head on a pillow next to him and standing up beside the man.

He looked at his notes, "Her body is very weak right now, she had a lot of tension and is very alert to touch. I could check her for something else but I would need both your and her permission to do so."

"Anything to help her."

"I can check her with a rape kit." the man said, looking at the sleeping Regina and then back at Robin.

Robin bit his lip and thought for a few seconds. He nodded and walked over to Regina before whispering the man's request in her ear. She groaned to his proposal and swatted him away. He told her it was important for her health and kissed her cheek, until she finally gave in.

After twenty minutes, the man let Robin back into the ambulance and spoke to him and Regina, "Fortunately, everything is fine. Nothing is harmed and you are healthy otherwise."

Robin squeezed Regina's hand, "Thank you, for everything."

Regina smiled at the man and laid her head on Robin's shoulder.

"No problem, I'll give these results and notes to the chief so they can get to it with Graham's case. Thank you and I hope you feel better." the man said.

"What can I do to ensure her to better health?" Robin asked.

"Just watch her, care for her, love her, make sure she doesn't do anything too extravagant." he replied.

Robin nodded as he pulled Regina's hand and walked her back to the squad car where they got in and were driven back to Robin's house.

* * *

"Are you sure you don't need anything from here, Mr. Locksley?" the chief said as he opened the car door for Robin to get out. Robin smiled and stood from the car as he held Regina's hand and pulled it lightly. She crawled out of the car and wrapped her arms around his body, smiling up at the chief.

"I think we should be okay, but if I do-"

"Call me." the chief interrupted.

"Certainly," Robin nodded and hugged Regina, "Now come on."

Regina waved to the chief as they walked to the porch. Robin hugged Regina slightly tighter as he unlocked the door. The minute they stepped in and the door shut behind them, Regina's smile faded and a tear ran down her cheek.

She turned her head into his chest and immediately started to cry. Not a word did he speak, he just held her close and hushed her quietly, sneaking kisses on her hair in between. Eventually she had stopped crying and was only staying his arms to smell him. As weird as it sounds, she just wanted to actually have him with her. She had longed for him to be with her since Graham had first kidnapped her. She had wanted him holding her safely and protecting her from Graham. She had yearned for his light kiss on her forehead that assured her he wouldn't let anything happen to her. And in this moment, this important moment, was everything she needed. She looked up to him with wet eyes.

"You don't need to worry anymore," he said, "I've got you, and I'm never letting go."

"Good." she replied and looked back down, hugging him, "I wouldn't survive it if it happened again."

Robin stayed silent, even though he was yearning for her to tell him what happened. She had told him the general subject of what happened in the ambulance, but he knew there was something hiding underneath it all, and he would only get it out of her in good time.

She slipped from his grasp and rubbed her eyes, before walking through the hallway and into his bedroom.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"I need to take a bath, get all of this-" she said, coming to a stop and looking over her shoulder at her, "All of Graham off of me."

She turned away and continued into his bedroom where she went to the bathroom and started the water for her bath. It took only a few minutes before it was full enough and so she stripped down to nothing and slipped in, absorbing the warm sensation of the water. Every bubble felt like pleasure, the heat of the water felt like a burst of sudden sensation. All the warmth helped her forget about the coldness she had been living in for the last two days.

After ten minutes, she drained the water and stood out of it, wrapping a towel around her wet body and letting her hair down out of the bun it was in. She shut the light off before sliding through the door and back into Robin's room. She saw him sitting in the bed, watching TV, with a pair of pajama pants on and no shirt. She held her smile back and made little eye contact with him before turning to his drawers and grabbing a shirt and a pair of his sweatpants. He stood from the bed and walked over to her, rubbing his hand across her bare back and shoulders.

"Regina," he said as she turned her head over her shoulder, "What did he do to you? These bruises aren't light."

He skimmed his hands over them, feeling the bumps and then the light cuts and scrapes on other parts of her arms and neck, "What are these from?"

She turned herself away from him and sighed, "They're nothing, Robin."

"Nothing?" he said, "You are standing here in front of me telling me that what Graham did to you was nothing? In every way he hurt you, it was all nothing?"

"I don't want to talk about it right now, Robin."

"You're right, you take all the time you need," he said, "Sorry, I'm just worried."

She stayed silent and turned her body around, walking past him and placing the clothes on his bed. She turned to him and sat down on the bed. He watched her and stared her down. Questions were forming in his head. His pulse was quickening. His body grew hot of anger for Graham. His fists tightened. _But he stopped._ Instantly, he saw the great amount of hurt Regina was feeling. He felt her loneliness, her fear, her loss of direction. He looked at her eyes, which told the story all in one look; she was as broken as they come.

As much as he wanted her to forget about, he also wanted to know what did happen. He didn't want to hurt her by making her remember the awful things that did go on, so he accepted the fact that he would just wait until she thought it was the right time.

 _However._

He couldn't stop himself from noticing the terrible marks on her skin.

"Regina, your neck, and your collarbones, your shoulders are all-"

"I know they are busted up, Robin." she looked to the floor, "Don't remind me."

"Sorry," he sat next to her, "If you don't feel like talking about it, it's fine. I don't mean to pressure you or anything."

He placed his hand on her arm as she flinched to his touch.

"I'm sorry- I forgot-" he said, swiping his hand back and placing ti on his lap.

"There's nothing to apologize for, Robin."

"Regina, I need to be more sensitive to how you're feeling right now." he said.

"I need you to know something," she said, looking up to him, "Right now, of course I'm in a terrible state. I just got back from being held captive as a toy for Graham to play with. Of course I am not going to be living happily with no fear. I don't flinch because of your touch, Robin. I flinch because just the feeling of your-"

She swallowed and shut her eyes, "Of anyone's hand or fingers makes things fly back in my mind to when Graham did those things and I just don't remember it."

She opened her eyes once more, " _But_ then I get it out of my mind and I remember that it's you who is touching me, not him. It's not something I should be afraid of, So when I do flinch, each and every time a piece of that high wall of fear is coming down, because I am accepting that it's okay to let you in. You're not Graham."

She nodded and smiled at him faintly, but then her smile disappeared.

"I'm here whenever you need to talk, and that might not be for a long time or ever, but I am here."

"I-" Regina said, "I'll start from the beginning I guess."

She sighed as she began, "I was going to work, and I was going to stop and get a coffee and meet you there, but I woke up late and couldn't arrive at work in time if I did. So I got there and all day, Graham just keep checking in and telling me we had a meeting and that I had to be there or else."

Robin just listened, but placed his hand on hers to let her know that he was there. That the memory wasn't real.

She closed her eyes to remember, "Then after I clocked out, I was walking to my car, it was dark, around 11. Then I got a text of you tied up and hurt, and I couldn't find my phone on the ground but then Graham showed up and backed me up into my car. He grabbed me when I tried to run and told me that I was his."

She started to crash, but held it in, "I was forced into his car, he took me to that place and locked me in a dark, cold room that only had a bed in it. I figured that he would just keep me there until I confessed my love for him, that was until-"

She turned away from him.

"Until he came in and hurt me, he punched me and slapped me until I stopped talking about you. Until all my tears had fallen, he wouldn't stop," she cried now, "then he left, he left me on the ground in the corner, freezing cold, and told me he'd be back back later."

"I'm so sorry, love."

"He came back a few hours later and said he would bring me to you. I was hiding, but my heart couldn't stop yearning for you so I announced my presence and he did _it_ again. The whole time I was stuck in that place, I thought, 'Oh Robin will save me, he'll find a way, he won't let anything happen to me.' And then it was a few hours, a day, then two days, and I had given up."

She sniffled and leaned her head on his shoulder, "Then that one day, that you were there, I felt like someone was watching, that's why I had enough courage to attack Graham, even though it was risking my life and who evers was watching me. Then I saw it was you and I felt like my life had restarted, like I was revived from a desperate hell I had been living in."

"Regina, I had no idea, I'm so sorry you had to go through all of this." Robin kissed her forehead, "I promise you that man won't get out ever."

"I know." she said and looked up to him.

* * *

After a few hours, Regina had gotten dressed and was now wrapped in a blanket on the couch beside Robin.

"I never actually thanked you."

"For what?" he said.

"You saved me from that hell."

"I just knew I needed to get to the one I loved." he smiled and rubbed her arm.

"I figured out the true meaning of love, you know?" she said.

"And what might that be?"

"True love is sacrifice, it's giving up everything for the person you love."

"That's not Shakespeare, that's your words." he smiled at her.

Robin placed his hand on her cheek and rubbed it with his thumb, "I missed you insanely."

"And I you." she smiled.

He pulled her head to his and kissed her sweetly, before they rested their foreheads against one another's.

"And hell, I've wanted that since-"

"Since I saw you outside the door."

"No, I wanted a kiss that meant something, when we were both 100% okay." he smirked.

"Oh, then, here." she smirked and kissed him again, more rough this time, letting out a little giggle at the end.

"Is this funny to you?" he laughed.

"You're funny to me." she smiled.

"I do have a great sense of humor." he said.

"Shut up." she hit him playfully before he intertwined their fingers and stared into her eyes.

They stared at each other for a few minutes from Regina's mouth fell open.

"Be mine." she said.

"I am yours."

"No, I mean," she looked down, "Be mine, permanently."

His mouth dropped and suddenly and smile grew on his face.

"Marry me, Robin."

* * *

 **A/N: THOUGHTS?**


	13. A Grand Proposal

**A/N: I'm very happy that you all enjoyed that last chapter. Here we go with thirteen.**

 **Please leave a review or something, XOXO**

* * *

 **Thirteen:** A Grand Proposal

"Are you serious right now, Regina?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I don't know what to say."

"Say yes, you idiot."

The light of the moon shone through the window. Its light sparkled on Regina's eyes and Robin couldn't help but smile. She couldn't help feeling the adrenaline of her heart when he first took her hand in the moonlight. I love you, was the only words she wanted to hear in the world. I love you, was the message of bells that rang in her ears, as she had become one of his to cherish.

He looked into her eyes, their heads were the same level. His eyes were the colour of a fresh ocean water. They emphasized on the freshness his appearance gave to his beauty; but in the moonlight, they looked almost green. From the pressure of his hands, she could tell he was as nervous as she was. Especially when he leaned in, so close she could spell the floweriest scent coming from his breath, which she knew she would never forget this moment.

His lips reached her jaw, tracing the lines of her ear to her collarbone. They were so warm against her skin as they reminded my of soft, little fluffy pillows; and for that moment, reminded her of fairy floss. She couldn't stop her heart from pounding in her chest. Her blood flowed rapidly in her cheeks, making her face as red as ever. She lifted her hands out of his, and pulled them up high to his shoulders, where she entwined them with his soft dirty blonde hair. He put his hands down at her waist while pulling her closer to his chest. She was his, and he was mine; and so the bowl ran away with the spoon.

"Is that a yes?" she giggled.

"No," he finally landed his lips on hers and smiled, "That was a yes."

* * *

"Wake up, sleepy." he poked the tip of her nose. She shook her head and flipped her body away from him, stuffing her head underneath the pillow. He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her close to him so that their bodies were touching. She hummed underneath the pillow.

"You have work, let's go, get up." he whispered.

She picked the pillow up off her head and placed it back under her head and replied, "I don't wanna."

"You have to, love."

She groaned and turned her head over her shoulder, stealing a quick kiss before sitting up.

The bruises on her back still bothered Robin. He sighed.

"What's wrong, Robin?" she peeked over her shoulder.

"Oh, nothing," he said, "Go shower, you only have an hour."

She stood from the bed and slipped through the bathroom door, sending him a small smirk before shutting the door and getting in the shower. After a good twenty minutes, Regina came out of the bathroom with her body wrapped in a towel, and another towel wrapped on her arm. She held it out in front of Robin and smiled, "Can you get my hair?"

He nodded and pulled her to sit in front of him as he took the towel from her arm. He rubbed her hair until it was almost dry, then pulled the towel down to his lap, before leaving a trail of kisses on her shoulders.

"Not right now, work, remember?" she laughed as she stood and walked to the door.

He groaned.

"You were the one who got me going!" she yelled as she left the room and went to get dressed. A few minutes later, she came back and went into the bathroom to do her makeup. Occasionally she would peek out of the crack of the door and stare at Robin, who was now watching TV. She finally finished getting ready, as she walked out of the bathroom and sat down right in front of Robin, blocking his view of the TV.

"Damn you look good for-" then he stopped himself.

"For what I just went through?" she laughed and then blushed, "I tried."

"You look amazing." he smiled and planted a kiss on her forehead before pulling his shoes on his feet and throwing a shirt over his head. He grabbed her hand and walked her to the car, where he held the door open for her and helped her get in, before getting himself into the car and driving her to work.

As he drove, she stole looks of him and let out a couple giggles, and they exchanged looks quite a few times, resulting in some smiles and lip biting. Not too long, they were at Regina's workplace.

"Do I have to go?" she pouted.

"Yes," he laughed, "Now go. Don't miss me too much."

She leaned over and kissed his lips, slightly pulling back after and staring into his eyes, "I'll miss you so much."

She stood from the car and started to walk for the door as he rolled down the window and yelled, "Text me every hour and don't forget to ignore the haters!"

He saw her laugh as she walked inside before he drove away.

"Good morning, Zelena!"

"Good morning, Ms. Mills. Glad to see you back." Zelena waved.

"Glad to be back. Any appointments?" Regina said, hoping there weren't any.

Emma saw her at the desk with Zelena and stared. She slowly walked over and interrupted.

"Hello, Zelena. Did my 1pm appointment cancel today?" Emma said, smiling.

"Let me check for you Ms. Swan. Hold on one moment please, Ms. Mills." Zelena smiled, and nodded.

"Yes they did. Anything else I can do for you, Ms. Swan?" Zelena said with a smile.

"No, thanks, have a good day Zelena." Emma said, smiling.

"Now what do you need Ms. Mills?" Zelena said.

She stayed silent.

"Ms. Mills?" Zelena said.

"Oh nevermind, thank you Zelena." Regina said. Regina turned on her heel and started to walk, but then stopped. She turned back around and walked back to Zelena, leaning over the desk.

"Actually, there is something I wanna ask you." Regina whispered.

"Anything."

"Would you consider being one of my bridesmaids at Robin and I's wedding?"

Zelena stood and clapped her hands together, "A thousand times yes."

"Okay, don't tell anyone. You're the only one who knows." Regina winked and turned yet again on her heel before making her way to her office. She hadn't been there since the day Graham had kidnapped her, and that was not a day she wanted to remember. She dropped her bags on top of her desk and took her jacket off before throwing it on the couch. The door swung open.

"Miss Mills, wonderful to have you back."

Regina swung around and put on a smile, "Gold. How are you?"

"Fine, thanks. I see you are already settled in." he replied.

"Physically, not mentally." she said sarcastically.

"Anyway," he said, ignoring her sarcasm, "Since Graham has been convicted, I must replace him immediately, due to the large amount of clients and projects he had."

"Okay."

"Now, I have come to you since you are one of my best workers here, and over the years, I have grown to trust you and such, so I want to know if you have any suggestions on someone I could hire." he said.

Her mouth dropped.

"I know this is all sudden, but I needed someone quickly, someone who is qualified for the job." he said.

"I have someone," she swallowed, "Robin Locksley."

"Your boy?"

"Not just because he is my boy. He majored in business in college, he has a masters degree, and know everything you need to know." she said.

"So he wouldn't be a distraction to you or your co workers at all?"

"No, sir." she smiled as he turned away and walked out of the room.

She quickly dialed Robin's number and let it ring.

 _Hey beautiful._

 **Robin, hey! Wanna meet up for lunch in about ten minutes at the cafe?**

 _Uh, sure. Why?_

 **Break! See you then.**

She hung up the phone and threw it in her purse before grabbing her jacket and leaving her office. She bumped into Emma on the way out.

"Gina?" she said, "What's the rush?"

"Remind me that I have to talk to you later!"

"Okay?" Emma said as Regina flew through the door.

Regina strutted down the sidewalk and finally made it to the cafe. Robin was waiting for her outside.

"Again, it's cold and you're standing outside." she said.

"I wanted to go in with you."

"Yeah, yeah," she smiled, "But I don't want you getting sick."

"Thanks for worrying." he laughed. He placed his hand on the small of her back and pushed her inside the cafe. They sat in their usual booth and ordered their usual drinks even though it was already noon. They each ordered chicken caesar wraps with a side of fries. Regina told Robin that she talked to Zelena about the wedding. Robin told her it was great.

Eventually they had finished their food, and it was time for Regina to bring up the job.

"So, Gold asked me today if I knew anyone who could replace Graham," she said, "And I mentioned you."

"You did what?"

"Why, are you mad?" she said.

"What? No," he smiled, "I'm actually excited. I would love to work with you."

"Me too, he will probably contact you sometime soon, just stay outta trouble." she laughed.

He reached across the table and grabbed her hand, playing with her fingers and palm. He rubbed her soft skin and his fingers soon explored her wrists and arms.

He noticed that her wrists were still pretty bad. It still bothered him, but her kept it to himself.

"Well, I have to go." she sighed as she stood.

"Let me drive you."

"I can walk, it's fine." she smiled before planting a kiss on his cheek and walking out of the door.

He immediately felt guilty.

* * *

Regina arrived back at her office a few minutes later and bumped into Emma once more. She grabbed her wrist without saying anything and dragged Emma into her office, shutting the door behind her.

"Alright, what's with you?" Emma said.

"Well, yes, Emma, I'm fine. Yes, I'm making it through. No, I definitely don't need anyone to talk to." Regina sassed.

"I am worried, I just didn't think you wanted to talk about it," she sighed, "but seriously, are you okay?"

She nodded, "Anyways, I have news."

"Go on."

"Robin and I are getting married."

"What the hell? Since when?" Emma jumped for joy.

"Last night," she smirked, "I'm very happy."

"How did he do it?"

"He didn't. I did."

"What? How?" she said.

"I just asked him." she smiled.

"Wow, you've got guts." Emma said, impressed.

"Anyways? Will you be my maid of honor?"

"Are you serious?" Emma said, "Of course I will, I'm so proud of you guys!"

They hugged before the door swung open.

"Mills. Pick up line three. Now." Gold stated before he left the room.

The girls parted before Regina suspiciously moved to the phone and picked up line three, "Hello?"

 _I need to speak with Regina Mills._

 **This is she.**

 _This is the Storybrooke Police Department. Detective Larkin speaking with you, ma'am._

 **How can I help you?**

 _Yeah, we have Robin Locksley down here at the police station and we need you to come on down as soon as you can._

 **What? Why? Since when?**

 _All information will be revealed when you get here. Thanks._

* * *

 **A/N: Oh no! You have questions? Let me hear them! I'll answer them all!**


	14. Back In Time

**A/N: Yo! This is honestly a great chapter. I hope you guy enjoy it. Follow me on instagram (swanofacaptain) and (lanathequeennn). Please leave me a review, it would be much appreciated.**

 **BTW 2.6k WORDS WOOO.**

* * *

 **Fourteen:** Back In Time

She slowly placed the phone back on its original place. She stood still and didn't turn back to Emma.

"Regina," Emma said, "What's wrong?"

"Robin's at the police department." Regina said as she turned and ran to the couch, grabbing her jacket and heading for the door.

"What? Why?"

"I don't know, cover for me. Don't tell Gold." Regina replied before slamming the door behind her and making her way to the door.

"And where might you be going, Ms. Mills?" Gold said, stopping her by grabbing her wrist. She flinched and stared at him.

"I just have to go out somewhere, I'll be back soon." she smiled nervously.

"We don't just get to take breaks whenever we want, Regina." he replied.

Oh crap, the last name meant business.

"I know, I'm sorry, I just have to go." she pleaded.

"What was the call for?" he asked, "Why are you in such a rush to get somewhere?"

"I, um, I-"

"Her father is in the hospital. It was my mom on the phone, she is there and was calling to tell Regina what had happened." Emma said, rushing to Regina's side.

"Ah, well, I hope he feels better and recovers as soon as possible," he let go of her wrist, "I'll see you tomorrow."

She let out a low sigh and looked towards Emma, who knew she'd be in for a yelling spree later on for lying. Regina rolled her eyes and smirked before sliding through Gold and Emma and through the front doors.

She had forgotten that Robin had driven her to work today, so she let out an angry yell as she remembered that she had to walk to the police department.

She hugged herself to keep her body warm, something that her coat was failing to do. The small flurries fell slowly and hit her face, each one making her flinch under its cold touch. She shivered and walked faster. It wasn't supposed to snow today. It wasn't even supposed to be this cold. Oddly enough, the first week of December had been warmer than usual, and this bitterness bit Regina right in the butt.

Regina finally saw the police department come into her vision as she turn on Main Street. Her feet were freezing since they were only being covered by a thin layer of leather and a sock. Her cheeks were bright red as well as her nose. Hers hands never left her pockets. Once she made it to the door, she struggled to pull it open, for the wind was holding it closed.

She walked into the building and fixed herself, rubbing her arms and legs and fixing her hair. She looked up and saw a man sitting behind a desk, staring her down.

"Hi, I'm Regina Mills and they just-"

"Yeah, yeah, down the hallway and to your right." he replied before sipping his coffee. Regina rolled her eyes and made her way to the hallway and right to a room where she found Robin sitting at a steel table with his hands folded in front of him and his head pointed towards the floor.

"What happened?"

"Regina!" he said, standing up and placing his hands in his pockets, "I'm glad you're here."

"What did you do, Robin? Why are you here?" she said, "Why am I here?"

The door opened behind her and a man walked in.

"I'm Sheriff David Nolan, Detective Larkin sent me in here." he said, reaching out his hand, "You must be the famous Regina Mills."

"Famous?" she said, shaking his hand.

"Why, everyone knows what you've gone through. I'm glad you're safe." David smiled at her before pulling a closer for her to sit in.

"So, what _did_ happen?" she said, clearing her throat and folding her hands.

Robin sat back down and pulled his chair in.

"Do you want to tell her or shall I, Mr. Locksley?"

"Just tell me already."

Robin sighed and rubbed his eyes before placing his palm face down on the table.

"What are these from, Robin?" she grabbed his hand and examined the bruises and bloodied cuts on his knuckles.

He didn't answer her.

She looked up at David.

"He attacked one of the prisoners we are holding." he sighed, "And I'm afraid to say that it was Graham Humbert."

"What? Robin, why?" she said, looking back into his eyes.

He ignored her.

"Robin, talk to me."

"I'll give you two a moment." David said before stepping out.

"Robin," she placed her hand on his, causing him to look up at her, his eyes wet, "You can tell me."

"I, I just couldn't let him get away with what he did to you."

"He's in jail for it, he's paying for it, Robin. You didn't have to hurt him." she said.

"He deserved to be hurt, Regina. Don't tell me you haven't had any sudden urge to go see him and deal with him yourself. There's not a single moment that went by that you didn't want to come here and pay him back for what he did to you." Robin snapped.

"Of course I'm angry, but that doesn't give me an excuse to come in here and attack him," she insisted, "Besides, I am almost over it, I wouldn't want to pull myself back into this black hole. I don't think I would be able to look at him ace to face ever again. I wouldn't be able to look at him the same way I once did. I wouldn't get over what he did to me."

"See?" Robin said.

"That's _if_ I came here. But I didn't, I controlled myself and my anger because I knew that if I had forgotten it, I could focus on everything I had: I was safe, I still had my job, I have you."

"I'm sorry, but my anger overwhelmed me and I had to do what I knew was right in that moment." Robin said, looking away from her.

"What you knew was right or what you thought was right?" she said, "Tell me the truth, Robin."

"I couldn't stand seeing those scars that he left on you, the dark bruises that will take weeks to heal, the marks on your wrists, back and shoulders that will constantly remind you of what you had gone through. I couldn't handle it. Sure, you told me it was over. You told me it was fine and you wanted to forget it, but I couldn't forget it." he said.

"Why not?" she replied.

"Because he hurt the one thing I loved. The only thing that was in my life for longer than I could remember. It was bad enough that I couldn't save you from that hell quick enough, it was worse that what he did to you could've changed everything." he swallowed, "It did change everything actually. Everytime I look at those marks, it reminds me that I wasn't there for you, and it worries me that I can't _always_ be there for you."

"The marks are merely just a reminder that I'm a survivor of what _did_ happen to me.I may not be proud of them or what they were caused by, but I have to get over it. There's no way to turn back time, otherwise I would; I'd turn it back to when you first told me you loved me, when you told me I was a fool for not accepting you, when you moved to England. I'd turn it back to a time when Graham and I were never a thing, where you and I would be happy ourselves, no drama, no problems, no hurt or pain. Just you and me," she said, "But I can't, so I just have to deal with what happened, and I will eventually, hopefully, forget it. However, I can't move on without knowing that you're on board with me."

"I'm with you," he said, "Always. I wish I could turn back time, too."

"But you can't," she leaned over the table and kissed his forehead, "You did what you could and I'm safe now. We are okay. He's been put away and he can't get out. There's nothing to worry about."

"Unfortunately, we cannot just let this incident go, Mr. Locksley." David popped his head in, "I am obligated to put it on your permanent record, which will definitely be sent out to whatever workplaces or credit card companies you are associated with."

"I understand." he said.

"If you had gone any further than you did, you would be serving jail time." he said before walking to the door, "I'll be back with some paperwork for you Ms. Mills."

David left the room and the door slammed shut behind him.

"I'm sorry, Regina, I know you're probably angry-"

"I love you, Robin."

His mouth dropped as he finally looked up to her, "You mean you're not mad?"

"Not entirely." she stood and walked to him, coming to a stop in front of him, "I see where you're coming from. I can just hide it better than you."

He smiled and grabbed her hands, pulling her down to his lap, "I just can't get over it. I won't ever let it happen again, I promise you."

She kissed his lips lightly before resting her forehead on his. She simply nodded and stood from his embrace, meeting Sheriff Nolan at the door with the paperwork.

She sighed before retreating back to her seat and filling out the paperwork, which took exactly 3 hours, 28 minutes, and 12 seconds of cold and bitter silence.

* * *

" _What do you think our future holds?" Robin asked as he played with Regina's fingers._

" _Happiness. Love. A family."_

" _I like the sound of that." he hummed._

" _I wish we could just stop time, that way you wouldn't have to leave for England, that way we could just exist ourselves and create our own family and not have to worry about anything else." she smiled._

" _If only we could," he replied, "Maybe we could just go into the future to where we are happy."_

" _If there was such a thing as time travel, then I'd say yes." she giggled._

 _He kissed her knuckles as she looked up to his face. Her head laid on his lap and she smiled to him._

" _What's this?" he grabbed a paper from the coffee table in front of them. She grabbed it from him and smiled._

" _It's a poem I wrote."_

" _Lemme hear it."_

" _Everything stopped, even time, I realized that all my life," she looked up to him, "I've been looking for the wrong guy. I've been searching for someone to love me, someone to be there when I need them, but I needed to stop. I need to search for someone who was much like me, someone who I could truly see. Who I could be myself around and who would love me completely. I needed someone who was meant for me, we were meant to be."_

" _That was beautiful, I didn't know you could write." he kissed her lips sweetly._

" _It's just something else that makes me so great." she laughed._

" _You're perfect."_

* * *

The drive back to Robin's place was silent. Neither one said a word.

When they got home, Regina recieved a call from Emma.

 **Hello?**

 _Regina, what happened? How's Robin?_

 **Hold on, let me go upstairs.**

 _Speak._

 **Well, he went to our county prison and attacked Graham.**

 _What? Why?_

 **Yeah, because of me. I knew something was up, but I didn't think it was this.**

 _How did you handle it?_

 **I forgave him. Afterall, he only did it because of how he felt about me. However, if he did go any further, he would have been facing jail time. I'm guess I'm just glad that he's okay.**

 _I see. Hey listen, about Gold-_

 **Yeah, what were you thinking Emma? He could find out if my father is actually in the hospital!**

 _It's fine, I already cleared things up with him._

 **What do you mean?**

 _Don't you worry bout a thing._

 **Whatever, I need to go talk to Robin. Thanks for whatever you did. See you tomorrow.**

 _K, bye._

Regina threw her phone across the bed and plopped down onto it. She sighed and rubbed her eyes before removing her shoes and walking back downstairs.

Robin was sitting on the couch holding a glass of red wine.

"Don't drink too much of that." Regina warned with a smile. He turned his head and looked at her with some sadness, knowing that what he did truly bothered her.

"What's that face for?" she asked.

"I feel terrible."

"Don't. It's over and done." she shrugged before sitting down next to him. He wrapped his arm around her as she snuggled closer to him.

She grabbed his glass and brought it to her mouth before downing the rest of it.

"Excuse ma'am, but that was mine." he said.

"It was delicious." she blushed and gave him back the glass.

"Anything that's mine is delicious to you," he smirked, "What am I supposed to do with this empty glass?"

"Full it back up." she demanded.

He removed his arm from around her and leaned forward to grab the bottle of wine on the table. After pouring a full glass, he returned the bottle to its original place and put his arm back around Regina. He brought the glass to his lips and took a sip.

"That's mine!" Regina said.

"It was mine first."

"And then I took it, so it's mine."

"It's in my hand, so I thinks it's mine." he smirked as he held it away from her. She leaned over his body so that hers fell onto his lap.

Regina reached for the glass and landed her hand on his, "Come on, share it."

He allowed her to guide his hand and the glass to her mouth and let her drink some, "The rest is mine."

"Oh, I don't want anymore." she shrugged and smirked.

"Why not?" he asked.

She leaned up closer to his faces before kissing his lips passionately. The sparks flew like they never had before. She laughed against his mouth, "I want you."

He stared into her dark auburn eyes that were raging with desire. He smiled before kissing her lips gently and placing the glass back down on the table. He wrapped his arms around her body and lifted her, before carrying her to his room. He lied her on the bed and pulled his shirt off before lying down next to her.

The next minute she was sound asleep in his arms. That was all she needed, for him to be by her side, at this time. This moment in time.

He kissed her forehead and smiled against it before he too fell asleep.

* * *

 **A/N: LEAVE ME A COMMENTTTTT 3 XOXO**


	15. All About Timing

**A/N: ONE OF MY ABSOLUTE FAVORITE CHAPTERS. HONESTLY IT'S SO GOOD.**

 **I promise I'm not, like, praising myself. You will all love it. I'm expecting some amazing reviews?**

* * *

 **Fifteen** : All About Timing

Regina woke up and yawned. She found the muscular arms that surrounded her boy and yanked them tighter. She pushed herself closer to his body and immediately felt the warmth of his abdomen against her back. She sighed in happiness.

"Good morning, beautiful." he kept his eyes shut but kissed her hair. She hummed as a response and snuggled closer to him. yanking his arm again and placing his hand on her stomach. He rubbed his thumb against the thin fabric of the t-shirt she stole from him before moving his hand under it and landing it in her bare stomach.

"Hello." she hummed once more before intertwining her fingers with his.

"We could stay like this all day, you know?" he suggested. He began to kiss her forehead, her ear, her cheek, her chin, and then her neck. Her light hum after each kiss made even the slightest bit happier.

"We could, but I'd get fired." she giggled and yawned once more.

"What, are you tired?"

"I had a rough night." she said, laughing.

He rubbed her stomach with his fingers and pulled her as close as he could to him, "Why?"

"Because I couldn't help but think that I was sleeping next to some hot hunk, and I had to keep my hands to myself," she raised and eyebrow and looked at him, "I forced myself to go back to sleep."

He smirked at her before she spun around so they we facing each other, "I am pretty decent looking."

She placed both of her hands on his bare chest and let them roam across his strong abs. His hands laid on her waist and his thumbs stroked her skin ever so softly.

"God, I can't wait to wake up like this every morning." she let out a sigh and snuggled her head between his head and shoulder.

"You can."

"I have to go back home sometime." she said.

"Just because we aren't married yet, doesn't mean you can't live here." he said.

She paused and looked up to him, "Did you just ask me to move in with you?"

"I suppose I did." he laughed before her lips caught his in a light, but passionate kiss. She pulled away and bit her lip, before she sat up and let her hair fall to one side.

"I need to shower."

"I need to say one more thing." Robin said as he reached for her hand and pulled her back to him. She plopped herself down in front of him so her head was leaning on her fist and she was level with him.

"Yes?"

"We're going out tonight. We can finally celebrate our love." he smiled before she place one more quick kiss on his lips. She giggled and stood up before walking to the bathroom and running a shower.

She came back twenty minutes later with her body wrapped in a towel. She grabbed her clothes from the bed and walked back into the bathroom. Regina stepped into her dress and reached to zipper it, but she couldn't reach, "Robin?"

"Yes, love?"

"Come here, I need your help."

He stood from the bed and walked over to the bathroom before slipping his body inside and staring at Regina. Her dress was unzipped so he saw her entire bare back, her bare shoulders and collar bones, and her entire waistline.

"Please zipper this, I can't reach it." She turned for him before his hands landed on her back. He zipped her up before turning her and stealing another kiss.

"Can't wait till our wedding." he said.

"Can't wait till our wedding night," she muttered to herself as he went back to the bed. She fixed her hair and makeup before leaving the bathroom and grabbing a jacket for the road. She packed herself a small snack and made a coffee to go. Robin helped her put on her jacket. He went into the closet and grabbed a scarf for her since it was still very cold outside. He walked over to her and wrapped around her neck, lightly yanking her body towards him and pulling her into a deep kiss. His hands landed on her back and her hands landed on his chest. Each one desperate for air, yet each one was more desperate for the kiss they were sharing.

Regina pulled back and licked her lips before she backed into the door and winked at him. She slid through it and made her way to the car, stumbling and struggling to get in, for she was still a mess after that kiss.

* * *

She arrived at work ten minutes early. Regina strutted inside and couldn't stop blushing.

"Well if I do say so, I think you look quite smitten, Regina."

Regina turned to see her good friend, Mary Margaret standing in front of her office with a gift bag. Regina walked over and rolled her eyes but fell into a hug.

"What are you doing here?" Regina asked.

"When were you going to tell me you were getting married?" Mary Margaret said, "And to Robin Locksley no less!"

"Let me guess, Emma told you?" Regina laughed.

Mary Margaret nodded, "I knew you two would end up together."

* * *

 _"Come on, Regina, he seems cute." Mary Margaret hit her arm as they walked down the hallway. Regina rolled her eyes and nudged her arm._

 _"Stop it, we are just friends, that's all we'll ever be." she replied._

 _Emma ran up and met the two in the middle of the hallway. She was out of breath._

 _"What the hell happened to you?" Regina asked._

 _"Cafeteria, now!"_

 _Emma yanked Regina's arms and pulled her to the cafeteria. Mary Margaret followed._

 _The three girls stopped in the doorway before they saw Robin in the middle of a fight with Graham._

 _Regina ran over between the two and tried to pull them apart, but Graham pushed her aside._

 _"You can't just push her aside like she's worthless!" Robin yelled._

 _"You can't always treat her like she a trophy. Like she's priceless. There's no lesson in that!" he yelled back._

 _"Just back off and leave her alone!" Robin pushed him._

 _"She probably can't even stand you!" Graham said._

 _"What the hell are you two fighting about?" Regina stood in front of Robin and guarded him._

 _"You!" Graham yelled._

 _"Why?" Regina said._

 _"Ugh, just forget it," Graham said, fuming, "Don't say a word, Locksley."_

 _Regina sighed and stepped aside before she heard a punch. She flicked her head over her shoulder and saw Robin holding his chin against the wall. Graham ran past her and out of the cafeteria. Mary Margaret and Emma still stood in the door but were more terrified than surprised._

 _"Robin!" Regina ran over to him and moved his hand from his chin. She wiped the blood off of his lip and sat him down._

 _"Why are you so nice to me?" Robin asked, "Why don't you fight for the hunk, Graham?"_

 _"Friends come first." Regina shrugged._

 _"Right, friends." Robin sighed as he stood and walked past her, turning his head and offering a small smile. He then left the cafeteria. Regina met her friends at the doorway and sighed._

 _"You two will end up together." Mary Margaret said._

 _"You totally will." Emma shrugged._

 _Regina sighed, "We're just friends."_

* * *

"I hate saying it, but you were right." Regina laughed.

"I always am," she replied, "Anyways, this is for you, just a little something. But I have to go, baby and work and husband and all, I am looking forward to an invitation soon!"

"It was great seeing you, you got it!" Regina waved as her friend left the building. She went into her office and sat in her desk, placing the gift on top. She took out the item wrapped in tissue paper and ripped it open. Inside was a picture frame that read, 'The apple of my eye'. Inside it was room to put a picture. Along with the frame came a note that read:

 _Regina,_

 _My dear friend. Congratulations to you and your soon to be husband. Please enjoy this gift from David and I. Put a picture of you and Robin in there, or even better, maybe your future child, because I am assuming you two will have one._

 _You'll hate me for saying that._

 _Love you,_

 _Mary Margaret_

Regina laughed as she threw the remaining tissue paper away and placing the picture frame on the corner of her desk.

She heard a knock and yelled for them to come in.

"Gina! Did you see Mary Margaret?" Emma came in full of excitement.

"Of course, she asked me about the wedding," Regina narrowed her eyes, "That you told her about."

"Oops, can't keep things from friends."

"It's fine. I think I want a June wedding." Regina smiled.

"I'll help you plan it. Let's get together this weekend, deal?" Emma smiled.

"Alright, call me." Regina laughed as Emma ran out of the room.

Regina opened her desktop and went through her emails. It was almost halfway through her shift already since her morning was full of hellos and goodbyes and old friendly conversations.

She stood and walked over to the likes of files that laid on the ground by the door. Of course she wasn't on top of things lately, and the wedding business was only going to make her stress more, so she decided to get organized. She heard her phone buzz.

She unlocked the screen and saw a text from Robin:

 **How's work?**

 _Terrible without you._

 **I'd come keep you company, but I don't think Gold would approve.**

 _Who cares what he thinks? ;)_

 **Are you serious right now? Where's the real Regina?**

 _Haha, I'm here. But seriously, come. Say you're dropping off lunch or something._

 **Why?**

 _I need to see you.. xox_

 **You'll see me in a few hours, love.**

 _Please come._

 **I'll see you in ten.**

She clapped to herself before she returned to the files on the floor.

* * *

"Caesar salads, turkey sandwiches, and chocolate covered strawberries for us." Robin said as he pulled the contents out of the paper bag.

"Wow, you really went all out."

"Anything for you."

They sat on the ground in front of her couch by the fireplace. They talked and ate and laughed.

"And I can't forget the wine."

She laughed as he poured them both some. Gold could walk in at any moment, but Regina didn't care. She was having the time of her life.

They each sipped their wine before they both placed their wine glasses on the ground. Regina placed her hands on Robin's cheek and kissed his sweetly.

"What?" he said.

"I just never thought I'd have this." she said with wet eyes.

"After I left for England, I felt like that for a long time, I felt like it was my fault for leaving you." he said as he rubbed her arm.

"I'm sorry."

"I would've walked through hell to be with you again, but then I finally admitted to myself that you were gone, I was never coming back, I had to let that guilt go." he said.

"You eventually came back though, when you confronted me that day when you saw me and Graham, I wanted to drop everything and just kiss you, but I was just too scared." Regina said.

He bit his lip, "Well maybe things works out when they are supposed to, maybe it's all about timing."

She stared at him and her mouth dropped before it formed into a smile. She leaned in and they shared a sweet kiss.

"I can't wait for tonight." Regina mumbled against his lips.

"Me either." He said.

* * *

 **A/N: Credit to OUAT for that last ending scene.**

 **This is a great chapter in my opinion. Yes, I am getting to the date night. Yes, I am getting to the wedding. Yes, I am getting to their first time. All will come in due timing. After all, it is all about timing.**


	16. One Moment

**A/N: THIS IS A GREAT CHAPTER…EXCEPT MAYBE A FEW THINGS. However, you will appreciate me afterwards, or maybe not. Depends on your thought process, I guess. Enjoy this chapter, I love it.**

 **Leave me a review or something :)**

* * *

 **Sixteen** : One Moment

Regina had never been so excited in her entire life, except for the time she had won the spelling bee. She took that trophy home and showcased it in her room for years. In fact, it was standing next to her bed in her room now.

She stood in front of the mirror and fluffed her hair. It was past her shoulders now, she hadn't really had time to cut it to her regular length. However, she sort of liked how it's flowed in different directions and had a lively look to it.

Regina sighed and made eye contact with herself in the mirror, "Hopefully this goes well."

She stepped back and flattened the nonexistent wrinkles on her dark red dress. It had a deep V neckline that cut just below her breastbone and it was sleeveless. It went down to her mid thighs and was a silky material. She added onto the look by putting on a pair of black stilettos and flashy jewelry. Her makeup was done, much more than she usually wore, but not too dark. Everything was falling into place.

She stepped out of the bathroom and grabbed her shoulder bag which was holding her lipstick, mints, and her phone. Regina pulled her phone out and checked the time; it was ten of 8.

A doorbell rang through the hallways.

Regina let out another sigh and coated her body in perfume before strutting towards the door and swinging it open. Robin stood there, leaning against the door post, one hand in his pocket and the other on the door holding a bouquet of tulips. He lifted his head just enough so his eyes landed on her lips before sending her a devilish smirk and finally looking up at her eyes. Each of his dark ocean eyes had been full of lust and angst, filled with desire and need, and they were pouring themselves into Regina's sultry hazels. She bit her lip and let out a little giggle before allowing him inside.

"For you, your majesty." he smiled and handed her the tulips. She blushed before giving them a quick smell and placing them in a vase in the kitchen. He followed her into the kitchen and leaned against the wall.

"So, where are we going tonight handsome?" she turned and leaned against the counter top, her hands sitting behind her body and her legs crossed. He looked up to the roof and put a finger to his chin, as he slowly swaggered over to her body. Next, he placed his hand on each side of her body, laying them flat on the counter and leaning over her. He stared at her for a few seconds before leaning towards her, to where their faces were only centimeters away, before whispering, "Secret I cannot tell, unfortunately."

She bit her lip once more and hummed against his cheek before he pulled away and grabbed her hand, as the two headed for the front door. Regina locked the door behind them and they made their way into Robin's black mustang.

They sat silently for the first few minutes in the car before Regina started to talk, "So seriously, where are we going?"

"Can't tell."

"Robin, give me a hint at least." she pouted.

"It's going to be an adventure that you have long waited for," he turned his head to her and placed his hand on hers, "That's all I can mention."

She gave him a sad face before he laughed and returned his eyes to the road. They drove another two minutes before Robin pulled into the parking lot of The Clocktower.

"Are you serious right now?" Regina grabbed Robin's arm and kicked her legs with excitement.

"Since you've always wanted to go to Britain, and you never got the chance to, I decided to bring you to my favorite British restaurant in the city." Robin smiled and parked the car. He stood outside and opened the door for her, grabbing her hand and pulling her out before wrapping his arm around her waist. They stood in awe together looking at the restaurant's beauty before they walked inside.

"Locksley for two." Robin said to the woman.

"Right this way." she said. The two followed the woman to a quiet corner table that was lit with candles and had wine ready for them. Robin held the chair open for Regina and allowed her to sit in it before pushing her in and sitting down himself.

"This is beautiful." Regina had forgotten that they were there to eat. She hadn't even picked up the menu yet; she was too busy admiring the architecture of the building and the artwork displayed on the walls. She had always wanted to feel a piece of Britain and now she had, and it was with Robin.

"What are you in the mood for tonight, love?" Robin asked as he started to skim the menu.

 _You, oh_ , it almost slipped out of her mouth, but she controlled herself and just shrugged.

"Maybe pasta?" she raised her eyebrow and laughed, "I'm just kidding. I want the chicken tikka masala."

"That is one of the best things to get, honestly, however I am sticking with the good 'ol fish and chips." Robin said, closing his menu.

A waitress came over and got their orders before collecting their menus and leaving the two alone once again.

Robin reached across the table and grabbed Regina's hands, intertwining their fingers and pulling her hands to his lips and kissing her knuckles. He moved their intertwined hands back to the middle of the table and smiled at her.

"Thank you so much, Robin, for everything." Regina said.

"I'd do anything for you."

"And I you." she said as she pulled one hand away and brushed her hair behind her ear. He let go of her remaining hand and leaned back against the chair.

"Is there more planned for the night?" Regina asked, eager to spend the entire night with him.

"Why, of course there is, it will be a night you won't forget." he smirked before nodding towards the waitress who was bringing their food over.

Regina inhaled the delicious scent of her meal, all of her senses came to an agreement and made her ache for the food in front of her. She smiled to herself and picked up her fork and knife before cutting into her chicken and taking the first bite.

"Mmmm... This is delicious." she said with her eyes closed. She chewed and smiled at the same time. She never expected british food to be this good.

Robin sat and laughed at her, "You enjoying it?"

She nodded excessively and giggled before taking another bite. He, on the other side of the table, started to enjoy his fish and chips; he had always been a sucker for them. His mother had always made it for his birthday, every year.

"Are you enjoying yours?"

"Very much so." Robin smiled.

The two eventually finished their meals and paid before walking back out to Robin's car. They drove another ten minutes until they parked somewhere else. Regina couldn't tell where they were, it was too dark.

Robin helped her out of the car again and interlocked their hands. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder so that she was basically hugging herself. Her other arm was around his waist, holding her so close to his body that she could feel him breathing. They began to walk down a stone path and towards a lake.

"Where are we?" Regina asked. Robin put a finger to her lip and smiled before they made a turn and saw the thing she had been looking for. In front of them was a bridge over a large lake. It's water sparkled from the light of the moon and stars above them. They walked to the top of the bridge and leaned against the ledge, looking across the lake at the city.

"Wow, it's amazing." Regina said.

"Yeah, it's more beautiful at night than it is in the day." Robin pulled her in front of him and wrapped his arms around her body, leaning them both against the ledge toward the city.

"I've never been outside at this time, I've never actually appreciated how beautiful it is." she stared in awe at the beautiful sights that the park and city provided her with. Then, she turned around in his grasp and stared at his eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"You're just," she swallowed, "really handsome."

He laughed, "And you're just really beautiful. Your eyes, they're sparkling."

She blushed and looked down.

He put a finger under her chin and stared at her before speaking, "Listen, I need to say something."

He stepped back a little and put a hand in his pocket, "From the moment I met you, I knew we were going to be something. Anything, really. Friends, lovers, enemies, family. I chose to get closer to you and get to know you, I chose to fall in love with you and spend as much time as I could with you. Then I left for England, and that made everything worse. My love was still burning and my body was still yearning for your touch, your smile, your kiss, just you in general. When I finally came back to America, I realized I needed to step up my game and own up to my feelings. I needed to find you and be with you, at any cost."

She stared at him and blushed.

"And I finally did, and it felt like winning a race I never thought I'd run. So, Regina," he pulled out a little box and got down on one knee, "I know you already did ask me to marry you, and I said yes, but I wanted to do the same and make it official with a ring."

She covered her mouth and tear dropped out of her eye.

"Will you, Regina Mills, marry me?" Robin smiled up at her.

She gave him her hand and didn't speak. He placed the diamond ring on her finger, slipping it easily to its new home. He kissed her knuckles and stood up with her; now they stared each other in the eyes.

"I've been wanting to do something all night."

"So do it." she managed to get out.

He placed a hand in her waist and pulled her to him, their foreheads an inch away, their lips, almost touching but not quite, and their eyes locked on one another's. He put his hand on her cheek and grazed his thumb over her lips, biting his own. She felt his breath on her lips before the space was closed and all time had stopped.

His hand pulled her body closer to his, even though "closer" was not possible. He pushed her back against the ledge and deepened the kiss before pulling back and taking a breath.

"Yes." she said. She crashed their lips together once more before turning their bodies and putting him against the ledge. She separated their lips and breathed against his, "I will."

He couldn't resist it so he let their lips touch once more in the last chance to completely devour one another.

She pulled away and smiled, "Marry you, Robin."

He let her lean against his body and placed his hands on her lower back. They sunk to just above her butt and she smiled up at him. Her hair was a mess from their little slip of a makeout session and his lips were coated in her lipstick.

* * *

The two walked into Robin's house hand in hand before they shut the front door and locked it. Regina kicked off her shoes and threw her purse to the couch before lying herself across it. Robin followed her, squeezing himself between her body and the corner of the couch. Regina leaned up onto her elbows and looked up to him with a devious smile.

She pushed herself up and skimmed her fingers along his chest before stopping them on his jaw. She leaned closer to his face so that their lips were barely touching.

"Aren't you a little hot?" she asked against his lips.

"It's forty degrees out, Regina," he said, trying to kiss her but she just kept pulling farther away.

"Just bear with me, will you?" she slipped her hands to his collar and unbuttoned his top button before making their lips touch once more.

He smirked at her before trying to kiss her again.

"Not yet."

She finished unbuttoning his shirt and pulled the remains of it out of his waistband. Her fingers roamed all over his chest, his chiseled abs, his shoulders. Everything was worth exploring. She placed a light kiss on his cheek before her hands found his hair and she crashed her lips to his. In the meantime, her hands had managed to yank off the remainder of his shirt and threw it to the floor.

His arms wrapped around her body and pulled her onto his lap, wrapping each of her legs around his waist.

"Regina-"

"Mhm?" she hummed between their kisses. He intertwined their fingers and moved her hands from his neck to her sides. His hands started to search for the zipper of her dress as his kisses got more rough and started to trail down her jawline. She hummed once more before his lips moved down to her neck, lightly sucking on the sensitive skin.

Suddenly, the two heard Regina's ringtone.

"You've got to-" she breathed out, "be kidding me right now."

He sucked on her neck and left another trail of kisses to her collarbones, "You have to pick it up."

She moaned before replying, "I don't want to."

He retreated to her lips and pulled her body as close to his as he could. Their kisses deepened and they started to move in sync, almost grinding with one another, before the ringtone sounded again.

"You have to go get it." Robin managed to say between kisses.

She groaned and continued to suck his lip.

"It could be something important." Robin said.

She rolled her eyes and sent him a sultry smile before pushing off his lap and trudging over to her bag. She picked up the phone and read the screen, 'Gold'. She walked back over to Robin and positioned herself back onto his lap before he continued kissing and sucking her neck.

"Hello?" she said into the phone.

 **Ms. Mills. It's Gold.**

"Yes, I know, what do you need?" she said, trying to control herself with everything she could. Robin was going crazy.

 **I need you in the office in less than twenty minutes**.

"Mhm- What, why?" she put her hand on Robin's shoulder before pushing him back a little and against the couch.

 **Just get here, on time.**

Regina slowly brought the phone away from her ear and her mouth dropped, before she cast Robin an angry look.

"Who was that?"

"Gold."

* * *

 **Review maybe?**


	17. Fire

**A/N: Of course they had to be interrupted, huh? Dang my evil ways! I promise you all I'll be getting back to normal OQ when all this stupid drama ends. Maybe even I'll slip a little gift in next chapter. (I will. Since I already wrote it, I know.)**

 **Leave a review please.**

* * *

 **Seventeen** : Fire

"What could you possibly want this late, Gold? And don't just say my company because I am beyond pissed that you called me in at this hour." Regina yelled through the darkened hallways of the office building. She met Gold at the end near his office and they walked inside together.

"I assume that you were doing something important?" Gold said, sitting in his desk.

 _Uh, yes, I was making out with Robin._

"Yes, I was sleeping." she crossed her arms and stood in front of his desk.

"It didn't sound like you were sleeping, it actually sounded like someone was there for you," Gold smirked, "And you're all dressed up and hair's done, I'd say you were out with Robin."

"I was not-"

"Don't lie to me, Ms. Mills. You know I do not tolerate liars." he said.

"Yes, I was with Robin. It's not a crime to be hanging out with your fiancé!" she said before plopping down on the chair behind her.

"I'm surprised you told me the truth considering where we stand now." Gold folded his hands and placed them on his desk.

"What are you talking about?"

 _Damn it, Regina. You know exactly what's he's talking about._

"You see, Ms. Mills. I have a strict policy that I follow, just for myself, not for anyone else's benefit. There are three rules: 1- everything comes with a price, 2- help yourself, and 3- don't believe the lies." he stood up and rounded about his desk, walking toward the couch, "I seem to have broken one of those rules myself, trusting you."

"Huh?"

"Don't play dumb with me, Ms. Mills. I know your father wasn't in the hospital, I know that you're getting married, I know that you asked Emma to cover for you and went out and ran off with Robin, and I most definitely know that you two have been doing other things in your office during work hours behind my back," he turned to her, "Now what I don't know is why you can't just simply tell me the truth. You are one of my best employees, I trusted you, I asked you opinions on who to hire and I expected you to be a great addition to my management team."

"What, no, Mr. Gold, I-"

"However, since you have chosen to go behind my back and make me break my rules, I have no choice but to give you consequences." he stopped right in front of her. She didn't move an inch - she was too scared to. She just stared up at him with fear.

"And what are those going to be?" she managed to get out.

"Well, I will not fire you; I'm not that bad of a man to fire someone before they get married and create a family. However, you will be required to do organizing duty for three weeks, you will clean out the file closet on Monday, and you will work whatever hours I put you on. Is that clear?" Gold stated.

She nodded her head excessively.

"Now get out of my office and go get some sleep." Gold shooed her away and sat back down at his desk. She stood, walked towards the door, and grabbed the handle.

"How did you know?" she turned her head over the shoulder.

"Excuse me?"

"How did you know about it all?" she repeated.

"Once you left to go check on 'your father in the hospital', I went and called Emma's mother so that she could send my get well wishes to him. When I told her, she had no idea of what I was talking about, so I talked to Emma, and she confessed everything, at a cost."

"And what was the cost?"

"Killian Jones is now working as the late night janitor for low pay. They need the extra funds, she said. I wasn't going to say anything to you, but things kept happening and you kept lying, so I needed to approach the issue. Good night, Ms. Mills." Gold replied.

Regina slipped through the door and slowly walked down the darkened hallway to the front door. She hopped in Robin's car and drove back to his house, parking the car in the driveway and trudging into the house. Regina walked into his bedroom, threw off her shoes, and snuck under the covers, where Robin was waiting for her.

He sensed her anger and sadness, so he just tucked her body in under the blanket and wrapped his arm around her waist, before they both fell asleep.

* * *

"Robin? Are you awake?" Regina rolled over and stared at Robin's face. Robin opened his eyes and smiled at her.

"You wanna talk about it?"

"Not really, but kinda." she shrugged and pulled the covered up to her neck, scooting closer to his body.

"Well, say whatever you want. I won't judge." He said, rubbing her arm.

"Gold is just really angry at me, in fact, the whole reason he is angry with me is because of Emma telling him something I didn't want her to tell." Regina sighed.

"Sounds tough."

"What she told him was something that is my place to tell. I guess I'm just a little triggered by everything. Everything that has happened in the past, what's happening in the present, and what will happen in the future. I am just a little shaken by everything coming at me. I'm not myself." Regina admitted.

He kissed her forehead, "I'm here whenever you need me, you know that Regina, right? Call me and I'll be by your side in seconds."

"I know, but I don't think you can help in this situation."

 _At least not yet._

"Well, if it makes you feel any better, I love you." he kissed her forehead again. She nodded and snuggled closer to him, catching a glimpse of the clock.

It read 1:15AM.

* * *

It was Sunday morning. Regina sat at her dining room table and sipped her coffee. She smiled to herself as she remembered the good things that happened not too many hours ago, and then the smile faded away when she remembered Gold. Everything about her night had been ruined by him. But more importantly, she had been ruined herself. A war was brewing inside her, preparing to attack Emma. She was ready to fire at her for telling Gold everything.

However, she had to calm herself. Being angry and attacking Emma with hateful words wasn't going to solve anything. At least, not right now it wasn't going to.

Regina walked to her bedroom and pulled out a black pencil skirt, and purple blouse, and a black blazer. She also grabbed black flats from her closet and started a shower. After hopping in and doing all her necessities, she came out and blow dried her hair quickly, leaving it wavy. She got dressed and applied some makeup before making her way around the house to pick up her jacket, her phone, and her lunch.

Regina drove to the office and parked in her usual spot. She strutted into the building, flicking her hair from her face and rubbing her arms from the coldness in the air. She spotted Zelena and smiled before walking over to her.

"Hi, Zelena." she smiled.

"Regina, hey! How are you this morning?"

"Cold. Tired. Angry." Regina replied.

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. If you need anything, let me know." Zelena smiled and nodded at her.

Regina nodded back, "When you see Emma, tell her to come see me immediately."

Regina walked away and made her way to the elevator. She waited till it reached the third floor and walked down that hallway to her office. She trudged in and placed her bags in the couch before making her way to her desk and going through her emails. Nothing was important.

Nothing was more important than what was already filling her mind: What she would say to Emma, how she would deal with Gold's new compromise, and Robin. She sighed before her door clicked open.

Emma stuck her head in and shut her eyes tight, "Listen I know you're mad but-"

"Come inside and shut the door." Regina said, standing up and walking around her desk.

"I know you-"

"How could you tell him Emma? After everything we have been though, you go off and tell our boss that I'm lying to him? You tell him all my dirty little secrets? You tell him that I'm seeing my fiancé behind his back and not doing my work?" Regina said, walking towards Emma.

"It's not like that Regina, it wasn't meant to be like that." Emma said in panic.

"What's it like then, Emma? How can I ever trust you again?" she sighed, "I almost got fired because of you!"

"I wasn't going to tell him, really, but I wasn't going to lose my job if I didn't tell him. I couldn't do that to Killian. We are going to take the next step in our relationship too, we're moving in together, I need the money," Emma explained, "Besides, I couldn't just lie to his face like you can."

"Like I can? Are you seriously going there?"

"No- I didn't mean to say it like that, Regina, seriously." Emma said.

"I can't deal with you right now." Regina growled and walked back towards her desk before pacing back and forth.

"Regina-"

"Here's what gonna happen: You, are going to go do whatever it is you do here at work, and you're not going to talk to me for the rest of the day. And no - I will not talk to you about the wedding, that's obviously all on hold right now." she said, "I am going to call Robin and tell him what's happening, because I'm not going to keep secrets from him. And I, I am going to calm down before the end of the day so we can hopefully resolve this- this- stupid conflict and be friends again. Got it?"

Emma looked to the ground, "Regina, can I say one thing first?"

"What?" Regina said furiously.

"I found this." Emma stuck her hand in her bag and whipped out a book that her and Regina made as kids. The front cover was plastered with a million stickers and picture print outs of happy couples. The back had a picture of the two's dream wedding dress, with their head photoshopped onto the girls the modelled them. Emma grabbed one of Regina's hands and placed the book in it, "I thought you might want to look through it since you're getting married."

Regina's mouth dropped.

"Nice ring by the way." Emma said.

Regina turned her head and watched as Emma slowly trudged out of her office, slamming the door loudly behind her. Regina groaned furiously and made her way to her desk, plopping the book on top. She sat down and stared at the book, the memories started to flash back. She smiled to herself but then remembered what was happening and who she was. She put her hands on her head and rubbed her temple; A headache was already forming.

She sighed once more before picking up the phone and dialing Robin's number.

 **Hello?**

"Hey handsome, I'm just calling to apologize for last night."

 **It's fine, love.**

"I woke up around two and I just felt like I needed to be home in my own bed. A lot has happened in the past few hours and I just need to handle it in my own. I'll tell you everything when we can talk in person. Until then, I love you."

 **I love you too, Regina.**

"Thanks for being by my side and not asking questions."

 **Always.**

She hung up the phone and leaned back in her chair. It was going to be a long day, a long week, a long hell of a stupid ride that she couldn't get off.

And it was only the beginning.

* * *

 **Review!**


	18. Resistance and Redemption

**A/N: This chapter actually turned out better than I expected it to. I hope you enjoy it and the spin I put on it, and the content of the chapter. Leave a review.**

 **THEIR WEDDING AND FUTURE DATES AND OTHER FUN THINGS (wink) WILL BE COMING SOON! IN FACT ITS NEXT CHAPTER :))))**

* * *

 **Eighteen** : Resistance and Redemption

It was Tuesday. The sun was out, the storm had gone, and Regina was anticipating later today. She was sure that Gold wanted her to do this, _but she wanted to do this._

Regina was dressed in a red dress that hugged her body and showcased all of her values. She complemented this dress with black heels that were higher than her usual ones. Her makeup was done a little more today, and she applied a more dangerously dark red lipstick. Her hair was somewhat curled and she smelt like apple cinnamon. She grabbed her bag from the passenger seat and flipped her hair as she stood straight. She strutted towards the door, walking in some sort of swagger that rocked her hips side to side. As she stepped inside the building, she slid her sunglasses off her face and licked her lips. She walked down the hallways, waving to her other coworkers and smiling at them. She stepped into the elevator and waited for it to open on her floor. As it did, she smiled and stepping out, walking down the hallway once more, getting jealous looks from other women, and getting winks from men. She stopped at the sign in desk and smiled at the secretary, as she wrote her name. She turned and spotted Zelena, waving at her before making her way to her office.

"Today's gonna be a good day." she said as she shut the door behind her and placed her bag on the couch. She took off her jacket and laid it on the couch beside her bag, soon fluffing her hair and flattening the wrinkles on her dress. She then went to her computer and checked her emails, deleting the spam and opening the important.

She heard a knock. Zelena walked in and handed her a coffee, "This is from Emma." She then left the room.

She looked down to the coffee that had a note taped to it that said, "Still sorry and missing you."

She ripped it off and threw it in the trashcan, smiling to herself and sipping it. Regina and Emma haven't spoken since Sunday, and she seriously missed her. It felt like she had just lost a part of her family. _Emma was her family._ She continued looking through her emails.

Once she finished that, and her coffee, she stood and began sorting yet another box of files that were in her office. There were more today than usual, and all she could do about it was let out a sigh.

As the day went on, she did more file sorting, and took more breaks. She must have read three books in the amount of free time she had.

It was eventually time for the workers to all leave.

"Damn, the day went by fast," she sighed, "now another four hours..."

She grabbed her bag and jacket and turned to leave her office. After locking her door and shutting the lights off, she turned and walked to the file closet which was only a few feet away.

She quickly grabbed her phone from her pocket and called Robin.

 **Hello?**

"Yeah, hey, wanna come help me with something for work?" Regina said.

 **Of course, right now?**

"Yep, see you in five."

Regina went down stairs and waited for Robin by the elevator. She waited the few minutes and saw Robin appear at the front door. He ran over to her and hugged her.

"Robin, glad you came." Regina said as she embraced him.

"Yes, I am always looking forward to helping you at work." He laughed.

She laughed at him and slid past him, leading them both to the file closet. It looked small from the outside, but once they walked in, it was no longer small. There must have been ten aisles of shelves, each filled to the max with files.

" _We_ have to sort _that_?" Robin said.

"Looks like we might be here for a few more than four hours." She laughed as she stepped in, sliding past the shelving units and trying to make her way to the back to start. He followed her with a pouty face, to which she laughed at, and then they began.

"So, do you enjoy file sorting?" he asked as he began to pull out all the As and sort them according to last name.

She gave him a look which made him laugh, "Seriously?"

"Just trying to get to know the work you."

She let out an 'ah' and then silence came back for a few minutes.

"How is it between you and Emma?" he asked her.

"I was expecting a little more heat, but we kind of just ignore each other. I kinda miss her though."

He gave her a smile and laughed, "Yeah, well I hope that you two, uh," he stopped and looked up at her as she continued, "Make up soon. I like it when you're happy."

"Well, thank you."

She simply nodded as they moved down to the next section, the Bs.

"Anctini Bulbucky, what a name." he said as he pushed the file to the side.

She laughed at him, "Don't make fun of people!"

"Awe, why not? No one can hear us."

"That's like me saying Robin Locksley, what a name!" she replied at him as her hand instinctively hit him playfully.

"Are you saying my name is funny?"

"Yes, yes I am." she laughed.

"It's not my fault my mother chose it! If I was alive, I would have changed it!" he said, laughing at her and pushing her over to the Cs.

"Calm down, Robin. I'm only joking." she smiled at him.

"Alright, alright." They calmed down for a while as they finished the Cs and the Ds.

"Who names their child Entenmann?" he said, looking at a file.

"Hey, don't criticize," she laughed, "that's a very good bakery company."

He laughed at her, "I've never heard of it."

"Well, I'll have to bring you to one sometime." she smiled at him, not realizing how pink her cheeks were.

"Sounds like a plan."

By that time, they were done with Es, and Fs were only two people. Now were the Gs.

Regina dropped three files on the ground, so they both reached for it, clashing heads.

"Why did we both go for it?" Robin laughed. Regina laughed too, and she leaned against the wall behind her.

"I'm sorry! I'm a clutz!" She giggled as she rubbed her head

Robin stopped laughing and started to inspect Regina's head, rubbing where they collided. She stopped giggling and stared into his eyes.

"I think you need ice, otherwise, it will become a big bruise." Robin said, taking his hand off of her head. She nodded and lead him to the kitchen area, where he grabbed an ice pack for her, and placed it on her head. She was told to sit on the chair and to let him do all the "doctoring". He held the ice pack to her head.

"So do you always get hurt at work?"

"I wasn't planning on dropping those files, or for you going to grab them when I was going to." She giggled.

"Sorry for trying to be helpful!" He laughed.

"Thank you, Robin." She said, blushing.

He took to ice pack off of her head and placed it back in the freezer. She stood up and walked over to him.

There was silence for a few seconds as they stared into each other's eyes. He smiled at her and then they started to walk back to the file closet, where they began Hs and Is.

"How is your head?" he asked her, before moving over to the Js and Ks.

"Better," she smiled, "How are you finishing those so fast?"

"Why, you jealous?" he teased.

"Yes."

He laughed at her and then he moved to the Ls and Ms, but she was still on the Is. She stuck her tongue out at him. Once she finally finished, she made her way to the Ns, which were between the wall and the Ms.

"Ha, I'm catching up." she teased.

He turned to her and saw her smile. In that moment, everything had disappeared. Her smile slowly went away, but her eyes still shined with happiness. He stared at her.

"What?" she said.

"Nothing, you just-"

"I just what?" she said.

He stepped closer to her and placed his hand on her cheek. He moved his thumb slowly, stroking it and they never broke eye contact, "You're just beautiful."

Her lips parted and her cheeks were instantly a bright pink.

His eyes flashed at her lips and then went back to her eyes. They stared at each other for a few seconds before Robin crashed his lips onto hers. Regina fell back, surprised, against the wall behind them. Robin's hands were in her hair, brushing it as the kiss grew more intense. He grabbed her by the waist, and pulled her in, as close to him as he could. He pinned her up against the wall behind them and kissed her even more roughly. She was the first to pull away, to catch her breath, and she gave him a little smirk.

"I knew it." she said.

Robin rested his forehead on hers, "You knew what exactly?"

She bit her lip and laughed, "That you can't resist me."

"Ah, no. No I cannot that much longer." He laughed. She leaned back on the wall behind them and played with his hands.

"That's good," she looked up at him, "Because I can't resist you either."

"I'm glad." He kissed her once more on the cheek.

The two then slowly separated, each with the ghost of the other's kiss on their lips. They returned to file sorting and soon finished it.

* * *

" _Emma?" Regina called into the darkness._

" _Emma? Please come back, I need you!"_

"Regina?"

" _Emma!"_

Regina's eyes opened quickly. Robin was above her, shaking her shoulders and panicking.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

She sat up and breathed out heavily, looking around the room and then at Robin. She leaned into his shoulder and hugged him.

"I think you and Emma need to make up." he said, rubbing her back.

She nodded before they laid back down and fell asleep.

* * *

Regina ran into the office that morning and ran straight to Emma's office.

Tears were streaming down her face. Regina swung open the door and stepped inside, slamming it behind her. She turned towards Emma, gave her a saddened look, and wiped her tears away.

"Emma, I-"

"What's wrong, Regina?"

"Emma, I can't stay mad at you. I can't even believe myself. How could I let go of my best friend? You're one of the only people I can lay everything on and you'll still be okay. You'd do anything for me, and I for you. I was so stupid to even be the slightest bit mad at you for the other day. I understand why you told him. I was just angry in the moment and I let my feelings overwhelm my body." Regina said.

Emma stood from her desk and walked over to Regina, hugging her tightly, "I missed you so much."

"I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry, too, Regina. I wish I didn't have to tell Gold, but-"

"But you did, it's fine. It's over. I would have eventually had to tell him anyway. You just did it for me." Regina sighed and wiped her wet eyes.

Emma grabbed Regina's hands and smiled, "I love you."

"I love you, too, Emma."

They shared another hug.

Regina broke the hug and stuck her hand in her pocket, "I want to show you something."

She whipped out a crumpled piece of paper. It's corners were covered in tape and paper. It was ripped out of the book Emma had given her the other day.

"I think this would be an excellent color for my bridesmaid dresses, what do you think?" she smiled big and showed Emma the picture of the model wearing a burgundy dress.

Emma smiled and wrapped her arm around Regina, "I love it."

* * *

 **Leave me your thoughts?**


	19. Perfect Planning Among Other Things

**A/N: So, I have finished writing this story. There will be a total of 20 chapters and an epilogue. I have decided to post one today, one tomorrow, and one on Friday. Enjoy this, loves. We are coming to an end.**

* * *

 **Nineteen** : Perfect Planning Among Other Things

Regina woke up with a smile on her face. She sat up and took a deep breath, casting a look at the man snoring next to her and hiding a giggle. She bent down and kissed his forehead before getting out of the bed and wrapping her robe around her body.

Regina walked into the kitchen and started a batch of coffee. As she waited, she decided to make pancakes and bacon. She sighed a sigh of content when she inhaled the beautiful smells of the warm buttermilk pancakes in the skillet and the crispy turkey bacon frying on the pan.

"What is that I smell?" Robin trudged out from the hallway and leaned against the corner as he rubbed his eyes. He opened them and smiled big at her, rubbing his hands together and licking his lips.

"That is breakfast." she replied, turning back to flip the pancake. He walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her ear under her hair and then her cheek. She smiled and turned her head slightly, locking their lips in a light morning kiss.

"I think you're burning that pancake." Robin lifted his hand from her stomach and pointed to the almost fully blackened pancake in front of them.

"I think you're distracting me." she laughed as she picked up the pancake with the spatula and stared at it.

He laughed.

"This is what you get for breakfast." she dropped it on a plate and handed it to him, giving him a side of a teasing smile and a raised eyebrow.

"Come on, you can't make me eat that." he groaned like a child. He gave her the old fashioned puppy eyes that he knew always worked on her.

She instantly went mushy and threw the pancake in the trash before giving him a big fluffy one from the top of the good stack. She then handed him the plate again and gave him a genuine smile, "Better, baby?"

"Mhm," he placed a kiss on her lips, "much."

She rolled her eyes and shut the oven off before getting herself a pancake and meeting Robin at the table.

"Why are you in such a good mood, if you don't mind me asking?" he said before shoving the food in his mouth.

She shrugged, "I don't know. Maybe because Emma is coming over later and we are no longer fighting. And Gold hasn't said anything to me in the past few days so I think I'm cruising on his good radar."

"Oh, okay. What time is Emma coming over?" he said.

"Around 1. We are meeting with Mary Margaret and David around 12 at their house and then coming here." she said before chewing her food, "Will you be home?"

"Home, I love that you call my house home." he smiled and looked to the ceiling.

"Our house." she corrected him with a quiet laugh.

"Yea, sorry, our house. I may or may not be here when you get home. I have some-" he looked to her eyes and then down to his plate, "stuff to figure out."

She gave him a confused look and stood from the table before cleaning up her area and the leftover food. He followed her and filled the air with a snarky laugh before he rubbed her hand and left the kitchen to go get dressed.

Regina shook her head and made her way to the bathroom, where she took a shower. She got dressed in blue jeans, a white t-shirt, a plaid scarf, and a green jacket, with black combat boots. She let her hair do whatever it wanted and applied light makeup. Regina yelled to Robin through the house, "I'll text you when I get there, love you!"

"I love you too, Regina!" he yelled back before peeking his head around the corner and blowing her a kiss.

She blew one back and shut the front door behind her before she made her way into her car and out of the driveway. Regina drove a good ten minutes before arriving at the Nolan's house.

She got out of the car and rang the doorbell. The door swung open and there stood Mary Margaret with a huge smile on her face and a baby in her arms.

"Regina, hey! Emma just walked in, glad you are here!" Mary Margaret smiled and went in for a hug.

"Who's this little guy?" Regina grabbed the baby's hand and wiggled it.

"This is Neal. He's fourteen months old." Mary Margaret bounced Neal in her arms and he giggled.

"So precious." Regina rubbed Neal's cheek and smiled.

"Let the woman in, honey." David yelled from behind her.

"Oh, yeah! Come inside!" Mary Margaret moved aside so Regina could walk in, closing the door behind her. Regina walked over to David and gave him a big hug.

"Miss me, queenie?" David kissed her cheek.

"How could I not?" she laughed. Emma came around the corner and smiled at the group.

"Hey Regina, I didn't know you were coming?" she smiled.

"Well, it is my wedding we are planning so it would be terrible if I couldn't make it." She laughed before hugging Emma.

The four adults then stood and stared at each other in silence. David cast Mary Margaret a look before she handed him Neal.

"Yes, let's go to the living room and discuss." the two women laughed and followed Mary Margaret through the hallway. Emma pulled a chair out to sit, as did the other two, but then she came to a pause.

"Why aren't we at your house anyways, Regina?" Emma laughed.

"Robin's at home." Regina shrugged.

"Oh, okay." Emma sat down and then her head shot up and her eyes grew big, "Wait, Robin is there? He's at home?"

"Are you two living together?" Mary Margaret leaned onto the table and toward Regina.

"If you're living together that means you two are sharing a bed, and that means," Emma looked at Regina and then raised an eyebrow before sending Mary Margaret an interested look.

"You two are sleeping together!" Mary Margaret blurted out and stood up.

Regina raised her hands in a form of surrendering, "Hey, I didn't know sharing a bed with your fiancé was a crime."

"It isn't. But when were you gonna tell us?" Emma said, smiling.

"Yeah, I mean, did you-" Mary Margaret sat down and flattened her skirt, "You know?"

"I didn't realize you two were so interested in my relationship," Regina laughed, "But no, not yet."

"Well, why not? Robin is hot." Emma said.

"Yeah, he's a sexy beast, why hasn't he banged you yet?" Mary Margaret whispered across the table.

"Heard that!" David yelled across the hallway.

The women giggled.

Regina stood and raised her hands to silence her two friends, "We almost did, it was a perfect time to do so, but then Gold called me right in between the sweet neck kisses and I had to go to work."

"What the hell?" Mary Margaret said.

"Dang I would've hung up and stripped my clothes off." Emma shrugged.

"Okay, wedding ladies! We've got a wedding to plan." Regina laughed.

* * *

"Okay, I'll call the florist and caterer and then get back to you." Mary Margaret said as she stood from her seat and cleared the table of its leftover cookies and tea.

"Thank you, and Emma, you and I can go to the dress shoppe next week to make sure everything has come in and schedule a fitting." Regina said as she stood.

Emma stood and pushed her chair in before walking over to Mary Margaret and giving her a giant hug, "Thank you so much. I wouldn't have wanted to spend the past five hours with anyone else."

Regina grabbed Emma's and Mary Margaret's hands and smiled, "I love you guys."

David walked in behind them and handed Regina Neal, "Hold him for a sec, Regina. Mary Margaret?"

Mary Margaret followed him to the hallway.

"So handsome." Emma poked his nose.

Regina looked at Neal with a small smile of pure love and joy. Emma had never seen Regina this happy since she met Robin.

"Regina, you're really good with kids." Emma said, "Why don't you have some?"

"I want one," she blushed and then shook out of her trance, "They are just cute."

David and Mary Margaret came back in and took Neal from Regina's arms. They led the two women to the door and hugged them one last time.

Emma followed Regina back to her house.

"Is Robin home?" Emma asked as she got out of the car and met Regina at the front door.

Regina stuck the keys in the lock and pushed the door open, "Not sure. Robin?"

"Yes, love?" Robin called down the stairs, "Why are you home so la-"

"Hello." Emma awkwardly waved at the shirtless man.

Regina shuffled over to him and placed her hands on his chest, pushing him back and whispering, "Put a shirt on. Rumor has it all my friends think you're hot."

Robin stepped back up the stairs as Regina pushed him back, following him, "Are you embarrassed?"

"No. I'm worried that they'll get more looks than I do right now, and we cannot afford that," she licked her lips, "Now can we?"

"I shall do whatever my queen demands." He kissed her lips and turned to go to his room. Regina rolled her eyes and returned back to Emma, who was just standing awkwardly in the foyer on her phone.

"Sorry." Regina laughed.

"No apologies needed." Emma smirked.

Regina led her to the dining room where she poured three glasses of wine.

"Let me give this to Robin, no use in wasting good wine." Regina smiled and grabbed the glass, before leaving Emma in the dining room and making her way up the stairs. Regina walked into the bedroom and stole a peek at the still shirtless man's back muscles. He turned after hearing the click of the door and smirked.

"How can I help you?"

"I told you to put a shirt on."

"Emma isn't coming up here, is she?" he teased. She rolled her eyes and made her way to him, handing him the wine and smiling.

"Is this actually my wine this time?" he teased.

"Only because someone is downstairs waiting for me." she winked.

He landed his hand on her waist and pulled her into a deep kiss before his lips found her neck and started to suck.

"Robin, I can't do this now. Wait till Emma leaves." she said, holding her moans in.

"She can wait." he said.

"She can't." she pushed him lightly and kissed his lips quickly, "Later. I promise."

She fixed her hair and hid her neck with her collar before making her way back down stairs and to the dining room.

"So, this is the definite color you chose, right?" Emma said, holding up the piece of burgundy paper. Regina nodded and walked over to her, flipping through the book they had just created with Mary Margaret.

"And you want this in June?" Emma said.

Regina nodded once more, "Yes."

"Alright, that's all I need. I'll forward this information to the planner and get out of your hair." Emma smiled.

"You don't need to go so soon." Regina said, cleaning up their wine glasses.

"No, I don't. But you surely need to get up in that room and uh," She pointed to Regina's lips and rubbed her messed up lipstick away, "Go to sleep. Next to your fiancé. In the same bed."

"Emma! He can hear you!" Regina laughed.

"Good." Emma hugged Regina and made her way out of the house before driving away.

"Is she gone?" Robin said as he wrapped his arms around Regina's stomach and kissed her neck.

"So you were listening?"

"I couldn't help but overhear-"

"Overhear what exactly?" she turned in his grasp and bit her lip, stepping back and leaning against the wall behind them.

"That you needed to go, hm, sleep with me? Is this what you three talked about the whole five hours you were gone?" he raised an eyebrow.

"No." she looked to his eyes, "Not the whole time anyway."

Robin leaned in and kissed her neck, his light stumbles tickled. She giggled and led his lips to hers, before her fingers found his hair and her tongue asked for entrance. His hand found the back of her head and pulled her deeper into the kiss, not that it was possible, and this other hand found the end of her scarf. He unwrapped it and threw it to the table before he took both of his hands and found the top button of her white shirt.

Her hands moved to his waistline, gripping his belt and pulling his waist closer so that they were basically grinding on each other. He kissed her neck as he began twisting each button with his thumb and third finger, then running his finger along her breastbone. When her shirt finally fell open, he slid it off, studied her, and allowed her to pull his belt off. She threw it to the ground and sent him a sultry look. She studied his chiseled abs, running her hands across his strong chest, along the thin patches of chest hairs he had. She smiled before they continued to kiss. He lifted her up, and carried her to their room. With one kick, he slammed the door shut, and they collapsed on the bed.

"Robin, I-" Regina managed to get out.

"Stop me if you feel the need, Regina." he said, staring up at him. She placed her hand on his cheek and smiled.

"I just, I don't think I'm quite ready."

"We can take it slow, Regina. It's okay. We can just go to sleep right now and continue this when you feel absolutely sure about it." he smiled and kissed her lips lightly.

"You're beautiful by the way. Every part of you- stunning." he smirked and stood from being over her, grabbing her hand and yanking her up next to him. He kissed her forehead and led her to the dresser wear her grabbed one of his shirts and pulled it over her head. Robin smiled and tucked her under the covers before getting in the bed himself and wrapping his arms around her.

"I'm sorry, Robin. I really wanted to go through with it, I-"

"I don't need an explanation, Regina. I respect you and your decisions." he kissed her ear and sighed contently. She snuggled closer to him.

"I love you, Robin."

"I love you, too."

* * *

 **Review this guys! It was fabulous.**


	20. The Spectacular

**A/N: About this chapter... some may hate me, but there are definitely some spectacular surprises in here. Some are classified as "Yes, thank you!" and others are "Seriously?". Anyways, leave me a message or review or something so I know you all are excited for the epilogue.**

 **By the way, this chapter is placed six months later, in June, on the day of the wedding.**

 **Kisses. (3.3k WORDS)**

* * *

 **Twenty** : The Spectacular

"Morning, love." Robin kissed Regina's ear and held her closer to him.

"What's today?" she turned her head over her shoulder and smiled.

"The day I can officially become your husband. The day I can finally pair myself with the love of my life. The day I-"

"The day we can show everyone our true love." She kissed his lips and sat up.

"No, stay in bed for a little while longer." Robin groaned, reaching for her hand.

"A woman's wedding day is the most stressful, yet amazing day of her life," she looked at him, "Besides, it's bad luck for the groom to see the bride."

"That's something they said way back when. I say we cut the wedding and just lay here in bed the whole day." He said, pulling her down next to him.

"I need to go meet with Emma and Mary Margaret. See you later, handsome." She kissed his lips and squeezed his bicep before throwing a jacket on and getting into her car. She didn't care that she was still in her pjs, all she wanted to do was meet up with her friends and get the fun going.

Regina drove down Mary Margaret's street and turned the radio up.

Suddenly, she slammed on the brakes and came to a full stop. She turned the radio up even louder and listened.

 _And some breaking news on this beautiful Saturday morning: Graham Humbert has escaped from the county jail. Possible witnesses are being questioned as we speak. A guard was knocked out during Humbert's escape and said when he woke up, his weapon was gone. More information to come as the day progresses, but for now, stay safe. This is 93.4 News Now._

Regina started to hyperventilate. Her hands began to shake and she started to sweat. On all days, why did it have to be her wedding day? How could he have possibly escaped? Was he coming for her? Regina pulled to the side of the road and shut the car off. A tear ran down her cheek and she sniffled.

Her phone buzzed in her pocket. She reached for it, answering it reluctantly and quieting her cries.

"Hello?" she whimpered.

 **Regina? Are you okay?**

"Yes, I'm perfectly fine. I guess I'm just, uh-" she tried to think of an excuse, "nervous. That's all."

 **Are you almost here?**

"Yes, Emma. I'll see you two in a few minutes." Regina sniffled once more as she hung up the phone. She threw it onto the passenger seat and her hand met her forehead as another cry came out. What was she going to do? Should she tell anyone? Did Robin know?

She shook her head in disagreement. She couldn't tell anyone. It would be of no help to worry everyone else. It would be stupid to tell them.

 _At least she thought so anyway._

Regina wiped away her tears and fixed her hair before starting the car up again and finally arriving at Mary Margaret's house.

"What the hell took you so long? You live like five minutes away." Emma yelled across the front lawn.

"Nerves?" Regina shrugged and stepped inside the house.

Mary Margaret came down the stairs with Neal in her arms. She sent Regina a huge smile as David followed behind her and groaned.

"What's wrong with you?" Regina asked.

"She woke me up at three to care for Neal, so that she could get her sleep for the big day." David replied.

Mary Margaret laughed and handed him the baby, "You accepted these things when you said I do, honey."

"Yea, yes I did." David said as he walked in between Emma and Regina and into the kitchen to fetch Neal a bottle.

"He'll be fine. Men don't need as much sleep as we do." Mary Margaret said.

"Except when they over exert themselves doing-"

"Emma." Mary Margaret stopped her.

"Right, wedding day." she laughed and linked her arm with Regina's. Mary Margaret followed as the three went upstairs to the bathroom. They sat Regina down on the toilet and leaned against the sink, staring at her.

"So, let's chat. Let's get a plan going." Emma said.

Regina folded her hands, "Well, usually on her wedding day, a daughter would go do this stuff with her mother, but I'm glad to say that I'm not. I have a nail appointment at 11, a facial and hair at 1, photos at 3, and the wedding ceremony is at 5 as we all know. How would you two like to prepare for that?"

"Regina, I know your head is wrapped up in this wedding business and you're nervous about handing yourself over to love, and all that, but we will be here for you." Emma rubbed her shoulder.

"Yeah, we will shake all those nerves outta you." Mary Margaret added.

 _Nerves ain't the half of it._

"And that's means a lot. So- how about we go get breakfast?" Regina asked.

"Sounds like a plan." The other two women said in sync as they all made their way to Emma's car and to the diner.

* * *

"Another round ladies?" the waitress asked.

"No, thank you. I think we've had enough coffee to keep us running for a year." Emma laughed. The waitress nodded and placed their bill on the table. Regina grabbed it first and told them not to worry about it.

"It's your wedding day, let us pay." they insisted.

"It's the least I can do." Regina overrode them and handed the waitress her credit card. She came back with a receipt and handed it to Regina. The three stood from the booth and made their way back out to Emma's car. As they got in, Regina flipped her hair out of her face, but then she stopped and stared at the corner of the building. Standing there was a man, that she couldn't quite fully make out. From the angle she was looking, it could've been Robin. It could've been Graham. It could've been anyone.

"Regina?"

"Coming." She shook her head and got into the car before they drove away and to their nail appointment.

"You good? You seem a little more nervous every hour that passes." Mary Margaret turned around in her seat and stared at Regina. Regina avoided her eye contact and looked out the window, simply nodding and rubbing her wrists.

 _The scars had faded, but had the memories? Of course not._

"You don't seem okay." Emma pulled over the car and turned to Regina as well.

"What's bothering you, Gina?" Mary Margaret asked, reaching for her hand.

Regina turned to them and threw on a fake smile, "I'm just completely freaking out, but I promise, you guys are making me feel better. I'll be better in no time!"

Emma gave her a suspicious look and then raised an eyebrow, before she started the car up again and continued to drive.

This was going to be a long day, and an even longer night.

* * *

"Dammit, you look even more gorgeous! I didn't think it was possible!" Mary Margaret said, snapping a photo of Regina on her phone. Emma did the same, wide eyed.

"Don't flatter me." Regina laughed.

"Why couldn't you be born ugly? Robin is a fricking lucky dude. He gets-" Emma over her hands in Regina's general air, "all that awesomeness."

"Stop it, please. You two are too kind." Regina replied as stepped down from the box she was standing on. She twirled and her dress lifted ever so slightly. It was sleeveless, a pale-off white dress of semi-embroidered fabric that accentuated her thin waist, hugged her hips, and flung out at the bottom. A V-neck cut that dropped to just above her belly bottom and lined with small jewels that complimented the barrett in her hair. Her loose curls on each side of her head fell down and lied perfectly in placed, her makeup reflecting every good aspect of herself, and her shoes, bold and silver, showed the little part of danger and rebellion that lies deep within her. Regina walked over to them and grabbed their hands, pulling them back with her and telling them to throw on their dresses.

They both came out and stood in front of the mirror, stunned at how much more beautiful the dress looked on them then it did at the fittings. They were long burgundy dresses covering in beautiful silk lining across the top part of the dress. They assisted the dresses' beauty with silver heels and their silver barrett's in their hair. The three women stood together in front of the mirror and grabbed each other's hands.

"Nothing will ruin this day." Emma said.

"Nothing." Mary Margaret replied.

Regina nodded. The three made their way to the limo waiting outside and started for the park where Robin "proposed".

* * *

The ladies stepped out of the limo and heard howls coming from the group of men across the way.

They blushed and made their way to the bridge, meeting their halves and greeting them. Regina, of course, waited and then stepped out of the limo. All her stress had dropped when she made eye contact with Robin. In that one quick second, nothing mattered but what was happening in the moment. What was happening that night was all that mattered.

Robin's mouth dropped as he slowly walked over to her and grabbed her hand, leaving a warm kiss on her knuckles.

"Regina, I don't know what to say." he said.

"You look handsome." she smirked.

"And you- stunning, in every way." he smiled at her and walked her over to the group of friends who were waiting to take pictures.

* * *

Eventually, it was 4:50. That meant, it was showtime. Regina stood in the back, pacing back and forth and breathing heavily. She had never felt more nervous in her life. This whole committing herself to someone wasn't the worst part, in fact, she wasn't worried one bit about it. She was worried that as she committed this act of true love, that something would happen, something terrible. And no one would be prepared for it.

"You got this, girl." Emma kissed her forehead before they heard the music, which meant it's go time. Mary Margaret hugged Regina and made her way to David. The doors opened as Mary Margaret and David left to walk down the aisle. Emma and Killian followed them.

Then - _it was now or never_ \- she decided to try to shake all of her pain and ache and memory and worry away. For that one second. Robin deserved it. She deserved it. They deserved it to live in that moment without worry.

Her music cued as the men swung the doors open, revealing Regina to the crowd. At first, she was frozen, but then she caught Robin's eye and she just smiled. She started to make her way down the aisle, smiling at the crowd who was in awe, just watching her takes steps down the way. She made it to the altar where she handed Emma her bouquet and joined hands with Robin. The crowd sat and all attention was on Robin and Regina.

"We are gathered here together on this beautiful evening to share with Regina and Robin as they exchange vows of their everlasting love. As Robin and Regina take their vows today, we are privileged to witness the joyous love of a new family - a family that will be nourished and nurtured through the devotion of two separate individuals growing together through the common bonds of love. May their marriage bring them the peace, joy, comfort and contentment that is known in the hearts of all God's children. And may Robin and Regina both look forward to each new season of their marriage - just as the world looks forward to each new season of the year. For all seasons bring with them their own special moments and memories. An essential requirement of a good marriage is a strong bond of real friendship and trust. Regina and Robin, your love for each other will grow deeper with every passing day, but it's important to remember that your love stands on a foundation of genuine, mutual affection and respect for each other. To truly LOVE another person is to be willing to accept both their strong points, and their weak points, with equal measures of understanding and respect. The vows you are about to exchange, will serve as a verbal representation of the non-verbal emotions that are as real as anything that can be seen, heard or touched. For it is not the words that you will speak today that will bond you together as one - but the strength of the love and commitment found deep within your souls." the priest said.

A tear fell down Regina's cheek.

"Robin Locksley, do you take Regina Mills to be your wife, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish her friendship and love her today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honor her, laugh with her and cry with her? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"

"I do." Robin smiled and squeezed Regina's hands.

"And Regina Mills, do you take Robin Locksley to be your husband, your partner in life and your one true love? Will you cherish his friendship and love him today, tomorrow and forever? Will you trust and honor him, laugh with him and cry with him? Will you be faithful through good times and bad, in sickness and in health as long as you both shall live?"

"I d-" she began to say.

The door swung open. In waltzed Graham Humbert; he held a gun in the air and laughed.

"Don't say it, Regina."

Robin stood in front of her, but she pulled his arm and stepped in front of him. She stepped down off the altar and toward Graham a little bit, very cautiously.

"Graham, don't do this. You'll regret it in the long run." Regina said, her hand up in the air.

"Well, my dear, there is no long run for me." he stepped towards her, the gun still in the air. Robin stepped down off the altar behind her.

"Don't move buddy, or _you'll_ regret it." Graham said.

Regina stepped away from Robin, now with both of her hands in the air, hoping to calm Graham down, "Why exactly are you here?"

"This was supposed to be our day, Regina. I figured that you wouldn't go through with it, that in the end, some little part of you still loved me." he said.

"I never loved you."

"See?" he twirled the gun in his hands, "Now that's the type of stuff that made me thought, why the hell would she even care if I escaped jail? Would she care if I bashed her wedding and threatened her and all of her loved ones?"

Regina flinched.

"Then I saw you earlier, and the look you gave me - ooh - I knew that you knew I escaped. I knew that you were just aching with pain." Graham laughed, "You just couldn't deal with me being gone that long, now, could you?"

"You knew about this?" Robin said to Regina.

"Everyone did, it was on the news!" she yelled at him.

"Then something inside of me, oh, it let me know that you were conflicted on how you should feel about me escaping. You know, I thought you were this strong woman, who needed intense love and care and who yearned for danger and adventure." he sighed and pointed the gun at her, "Then I concluded that you were just a scared, little girl."

"Graham, stop, please." Robin begged him.

"The same scared, little girl who was beaten by Paul back in highschool, and little girl who was left alone by her own two parents, and who only wanted to feel loved. Who didn't want to be alone anymore." Graham said, stepping towards her, "And for a second, to think I felt sorry for you. Oh no. You don't deserve my sympathy. You left me to rot in jail!"

"You kidnapped me and attacked me! Why would I come save you?" Regina snapped back, immediately knowing it was the wrong thing to do.

"Sass I see is back. You have your spunk back. Why don't you just come home with me and we can end this conflict right now?" Graham suggested.

"No. I love Robin. I wouldn't be here standing on that altar if I didn't love him. He is my everything. I would do anything for him. I'm here today with him. Not you. He is my true love." she said.

"Wrong response, love." he pointed the gun to Robin but Regina stood in front of it.

"Think about the consequences, Graham." Regina warned.

"Think about your consequences, Regina. What happens when all this is over?" Graham asked. She stepped towards him.

"Please, just drop the gun." She placed her hand on his arm and lowered it. He sighed angrily and turned his head to her, dropping the gun on the ground. He suddenly grabbed her wrist and kissed the spot where he had left wounds in the past. A tear rolled down his cheek.

"I just wanted you to love me." Graham said. Police rushed in and cuffed his hands, grabbing the gun and placing it in the evidence bag. Robin ran over to Regina and hugged her so tightly that she couldn't breathe. She let out a whimper into his chest.

"He could've killed you." Robin rubbed her head.

"It would've been worth it if it meant saving you." she sighed into his chest. He kissed her forehead and wiped her tears away.

"Um, excuse me, I know this is all crazy, but I have another gig tomorrow morning very early, so can we get this going?" the priest said.

The couple laughed along with the crowd as the two walked back up to the alter.

The priest opened his mouth to propose the sayings again but Regina stopped him, "I do, I do, I always will."

"You may now kiss the bride."

Robin dressed her cheek and kissed her lightly, but she tugged him closer, the kiss deepening in front of the crowd. He dipped her and their lips finally parted; the crowd roared with applause as the two walked down the aisle, followed by the other couples.

"I love you, Regina. Farther than the ends of this earth, more than anyone could ever love someone else. I love you. And I am so godly thankful for you. You are always there for me. You are my sunshine on a cloudy day. You back me up when I need it. You are my true love."

"But you, Robin, are my endlessly true love. You will _always_ be it."

* * *

 **A/N: Well. Review?**


	21. Epilogue: What A Life

**A/N: So, I just want to thank you all for reading this story and sticking to it. You helped me make it great. I don't know if you do, but if you ship CS, I started a new fanfic for them. It will be posted sooner or later so make sure you have my story alerts on. It's been one hell of a ride and I'm glad it was with all you wonderful people.**

 **Kisses for hopefully not the last time.**

 **Enjoy this.**

* * *

 **Epilogue** : What A Life

Months had passed since the two lovebirds had said their I do's.

Weeks had passed since Emma and Killian left for their own honeymoon - they had eloped a few days after Robin and Regina's wedding.

It had been days since Regina had talked to or seen Mary Margaret since the Nolan family moved to a small town called Storybrooke in Maine.

Hours had passed since Robin had left for work early that morning.

Regina stood from the couch and rubbed her stomach. She was four months pregnant. She smiled to herself, and rubbed the little bump that had been growing for the past three and a half months. She had told Robin that she wanted to keep the gender a surprise - however - she knew deep down inside of her that the baby was a girl. Regina had felt it since the day she was told that she was pregnant, that she would be having a daughter.

Robin was delighted when she told him the news. Regina had never seen him so happy. He constantly came home with little surprises for her and the baby, regardless of the fact that he didn't know the gender of it. He had already set up a nursery in the house right across the hall from their own bedroom, he had built a crib with the help of David, and he had even started a collection of stuffed animals for the baby.

The room was painted a light green; it had a small light resemblance to the forest. Each piece of furniture had something to do with the forest, with nature in general. Each stuffed animal a deer, a bear, a horse or a dog.

The two had adopted a small puppy, specifically a dark brown lab, to which they named Little John.

They were constantly moving through their happy lives - each with a job they enjoyed, each with a beautiful house, and each married to the loves of their lives.

Regina walked into the kitchen and refilled Little John's food bowl before sitting on the ground beside him and rubbing his little belly. She giggled as his tail began to wag so fast and as he stood up and barked just before running around her in a circle. The puppy had more energy than she did.

She stood from the floor as she heard the front door click open - which it did at 6pm exactly every night. She turned around and saw Robin appear in the doorway; he swaggered over to her, his hands caressing each of her cheeks and sealing their lips in a sweet kiss. His hands then went down to her stomach, where they created light circles on her little bump.

"How was work?" she asked.

"Busy today." he said, placing his briefcase on the counter.

"Must be because of the christmas season coming up." Regina replied as she opened the oven and pulled out the lasagna she had prepared earlier for them.

"Lasagna, my-"

"You're favorite, I know." she giggled and placed it on the top of the oven. He handed her two plates before he poured them both ice tea. She met him at the table with their meals and sat down, smiling big.

"What?"

"I love you." she said.

"And I you." he grabbed her hand and smiled.

Usually after dinner, the two would watch a movie of their choice. They took turns picking the movies they watched: Robin picked romantic comedies, where Regina picked some action films. As they watched the movie, they cuddled on the couch; Regina laying on top of him with her head directly on his chest, to where she could hear his heartbeat. Their breathing would be in sync, and Regina would occasionally fall asleep on him.

In that situation, Robin would shut the TV off and lift Regina's body up, carrying her all the way to their bed and tucking her in. He'd kiss her forehead and push the pieces of hair behind her ear, stealing the picture of his sleeping _wife_ in his mind for a later time. After this, he'd leave the room and stand in the doorway of the nursery, with crossed arms and an open mind, wondering what life will be like when the child comes in six months. He'd stand there wondering what life will be like when they are finally a family, when he can see Regina use all her star potential as a mother, and when he can finally call a child his. Then, as always, he'd go back and meet her in the bed, tucking himself in and hugging her small body, leaving another kiss on her hair and falling asleep.

The next morning, Robin would leave for work again, most likely around eight, giving Regina a kiss goodbye before he made his way out. She'd get the occasional call from Mary Margaret, which happens to be once a week, just to check in and make sure everything is good. Sometimes, Regina would get a text from Emma, stating how beautiful Italy is and how beautiful it has been since they left for their "honeymoon" a month ago.

However, on a normal day, Regina would feed the dog, take him for a walk, waving to her neighbors on the way and greeting the mail lady when she got back home. She'd go through the mail and make herself breakfast, that is, if she was hungry. If she wasn't, then she'd just go watch some TV and go through Facebook, liking her favorite posts and commenting on the funny videos. She'd grab her laptop and go through her emails, which she got even more frequently since she took maternity leave from the office back in September. Then, as the hours passed, she entertained herself somehow, before starting up dinner, maybe drawing a bath, or writing a bit of the novel she began after their wedding.

Then, at right about 6, she'd hear the front door click open, and just smile at the fact that it was her husband coming home to a loving wife, a yummy dinner, and a hopeful future.

* * *

 **Thank you again everyone. I am looking forward to hearing from you all on my other stories. Now on to bigger and better things! Kisses.**


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